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MENTAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF SAVAGES 



PRINTED BY 

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET «QUArd5 

LONDON 



}J;'l lb^r:j\f%:lliih'M^ 




THE 



ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION 



AND THE 



PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN 



MENTAL and SOCIAL CONDITION of SAVAGES 



BY 

SIE JOHN LUBBOCK, ^BAET. 

MP., F.E.S., D.C.L., LL.D. 

AUTHOR OF 'PREHISTORIC TIMES' ETC. : HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE LONDON BANKERS 

PELXOW OP THE SOC. OP ANTIQUARIES ; OF THE GEOLOGICAL, ENTOMOLOGICAL, AND 

OTHER SOCIETIES : PRESIDENT OP THE LONDON CHAMBER OP COMMERCE 

AND VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL 



Jift^ €bilion, faitfe itwmerons gi,b!bitions 






NEW YORK 
D. APPLE TON AND COxMPANY 

1898 



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34%!- 



PEE FACE 



1^ my work on ' Prehistoric Times ' I have devoted 
several chapters to the description of modern 
savages, because the weapons and implements now Lised 
by the lower races of men throw much light on the sig- 
nification and use of those discovered in ancient tumuli, 
or in the drift gravels ; and because a knowledge of 
modern savages and their modes of life enables us more 
accurately to picture, and more vividly to conceive 
the manners and customs of our ancestors in bygone 



ages. 



In the present volume, which is founded on a course 
of lectures delivered at the Eoyal Institution in the 
spring of 1868, I projDOse more particularly to describe 
the social and mental condition of savages, their art, 
their systems of marriage and of relationship, their re- 
ligions, language, moral character, and laws. Subse- 
quently I shall hope to publish those portions of my 
lectures which have reference to their houses, dress, 
boats, arms, implements, &c. From the very nnture of 
the subjects dealt with in the present volume, I shall 
have to record many actions and ideas very abhorrent to 



vill PESFACE 

us ; so many, in fact, that if I pass them without com- 
ment or condemnation, it is because I am reluctant to 
fatigue the reader by a wearisome iteration of disap- 
provaL In the chajDters on Marriage and Keligion 
more especially, though I have endeavoured to avoid 
everything that was needlessly offensive, still it was 
impossible not to mention some facts which are very 
repugnant to our feelings. Yet were I to express my 
sentiments in some cases, silence in others might be 
held to imply indifference, if not approval. 

Montesquieu ^ commences with an apology that por- 
tion of his great work which is devoted to Religion. 
As, he says, ' on pent juger parmi les tenebres celles 
qui sont les moins epaisses, et parmi les abimes ceux 
qui sont les moins profonds, ainsi Ton pent chercher 
entre les religions fausses celles qui sont les plus con- 
formes au bien de la societe ; celles qui, quoiqu'elles 
n'aient pas I'effet de mener les hommes aux felicites de 
I'autre vie, pen vent le plus contribuer a leur bonheur 
dans celle-ci. Je n'examinerai done les diverses reli- 
gions du monde que par rapport au bien que Ton en 
tire dans I'etat civil, soit que je parle de celle qui a sa 
racine dans le ciel, ou bien de celles qui ont la leur sur 
la terre.' The difficulty which I have felt has taken a 
different form, but I deem it necessary to say these 
few words of explanation, lest I should be supposed to 
approve that which I do not expressly condemn. 

^ Esprit des Lois, liv. xxiy. ch. 1. 



FEE FACE ix 

Klemm, in his ' AUgemeine Culturgeschichte der 
Menscben,' and recently Mr. Wood, in a more popular 
manner ('Natural History of Man'), have described 
the various races of man consecutively ; a system which 
has its advantages, but which does not well bring out 
the general stages of progress in civilisation. 

Various other works, amongst which I must 
specially mention Mliller's ' Geschichte der Americani- 
schen Urreligionen,' M'Lennan's ' Primitive Marriage,' 
and Bachofen's ' Das Mutterrecht,' deal w^ith particular 
portions of the subject. Maine's interesting work on 
' Ancient Law,' again, considers man in a more ad- 
vanced stage than that which is the special subject of 
my work. * 

The plan pursued by Tylor in his remarkable work 
on the ' Early History of Mankind ' more nearly re- 
sembles that which I have sketched out for myself, but 
the subject is one which no two minds would view in 
the same manner, and is so vast that I am sure my 
friend will not regard me as intruding upon a field 
which he has done so much to make his own. 

Nor must I omit to mention Lord Kames' ' His- 
tory of Man,' and Montesquieu's ' Esprit des Lois,' both 
of them works of great interest, although written at 
a time when our knowledge of savage races was even 
more imperfect than it is now. 

Yet the materials for such a work as the present 
are immense, and are daily increasing. Those who take 



X PEE FACE 

an interest in the subject become every year more and 
more numerous ; and while none of my readers can be 
more sensible of my deficiencies than I am myself, yet, 
after ten years of study, I have been anxious to pub- 
lish this portion of my work, in the hope that it may 
contribute something towards the progress of a science 
which is in itself of the deepest interest, and which has 
a pecidiar importance to an empire such as ours, com- 
prising races in every stage of civilisation yet attained 
by man. 

High Elms, Down, Keitt: 
February, 1870. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTOEY CHAPTER. 

PAGE 

Importance of tlie Subject — Difficulty of the Subject — Inactivity of 
the Savage Intellect — Condition of the Lowest Races of Men 
— Curious Customs with reference to Mothers-in-Law — La Couvade 
— Reasons for La Couvade — Savage Ideas on the Influence of Food 
— Curious Ideas with reference to Portraits — Use of Prayers as 
Medicine — Savage Ideas of Disease — Medical Treatment among 
Savages — Fancies about Twins — Life attributed to Inanimate Ob- 
jects — Salutations 1 

CHAPTER II. 

ART AND ORNAMENTS. 

Art as an Ethnological Character — Ancient Art — Art in Africa — Esqui- 
maux Drawings — The Quippu — Picture-writing — Indian Census 
Roll — Indian Tombstones — Picture-writing in North America — 
Indian Biography — Indian Petition — Rock Sculptures — Savage 
Ornaments — Cheek Studs — Labrets — Ornamentation of the Skin — 
Tribe Marks — Tattooing — Artificial Alteration of Form — Hairdress- 
ing — Fiji Head-dresses 38 

CHAPTER III. 

MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIP. 

The Position of Women among Savages — Absence of Affection in 
Marriage — Absence of Marriage — Relationship among Savages — 
Different Kinds of Marriage — Polyandry — Separation of Husband 
and Wife — Absence of Marriage Ceremony — Marriage Ceremonies 



xii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

— Relationships Independent of Marriage — Soutli Sea System of 
Relationship — Toda System of Relationship — Pre valence of Adoption 
— The MiUc-tie — Original or Communal Marriage — Origin of Mar- 
riage — Bachofen's Views — Wrestling for Wives — M'Lennan's Views 
— The True Explanation — Origin of Marriage by Capture— Preva- 
lence of Marriage by Capture — Originally a Reality — Subsequently a 
Form — Hindustan — Central India — Malay Peninsula — Kalmucks — 
Tonguses— Kamchadales — Mongols — Koreans — Esquimaux — North 
and South Americans — Fijians — Polynesians — Philippine 
Islanders — Negritos— Africa — Circassians — Europe — Rome — Poland 
— Russia — Britain — Explanation of Marriage Ceremonies — Marriage 
by Confarreatio — Expiation for Marriage — Babylonia — Armenia — 
Balearic Islands— Temporary Wives — Exogamy— Origin of Ex- 
ogamy — Prevalence of Exogamy — Australia — Africa — Hindostan 
— Northern Asia — China — Circassia — North America — South 
America — The Causes of Polygamy — Polyandry — Polyandry 
Exceptional — The System of Levirate — Endogamy — The Milk-tie — 
Relationship through Females — Causes and Wide Distribution of 
the Custom — Neglect of Paternal Relation — Origin of Relationship 
in the Male Line — Change from Female to Male Kinship — System 
of Kinship through Males — The Present System . . . .69 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE. 

Communal Marriage — Australian Marriage Law — Two Forms of Mar- 
riage in Australia — Origin of Individual Marriage — Marriage by 
Capture — Australia — India — Northern Asia — America — Esqui- 
maux — Indians — South America — Pacific Islands — Africa — Arabia 
— Europe — Symbol of Capture — Temporary Marriages — Exogamy 
— Origin of Exogamy — Origin of Marriage — Polyandry — TheLevi- 
rate — Endogamy — Relationship through Females — Relationship 



throush Males 



CHAPTER V. 

ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONSHIPS. 

On the Development of Relationships — Different Systems of Relation- 
ships—Classification of Systems — Nature of the Evidence — Custom 
of addressing Persons by their Relationship — Similarities of System 
among the Lower Races — Malayans — Fijians — Redskins — Nomen- 
clature of Relationships — ESect of Female Kinship on S3-stems of 
Relationship — The Hawaiian System — American Systems — Import- 



CONTENTS 



ance of the Mother's Brother in the Family System — The Micmac 
System — Burmese and Japanese Systems — The Wj^andot System 
— The Tamil and Fijian Systems — Remarkable Terms in Use — 
Explanation of the Terms — System of the Oneidas — Otawas — The 
Kaffir System — Mohegans — Crees — Chippewas — Summary of Red- 
skin Systems — Hindoo Sj^stems — Karens — Esquimaux — Remarkable 
Similarities — Indications of Progress — Incompleteness of Systems — 
Existing Systems Incompatible with the Theory of Degradation — 
Evidence of Progress — No Evidence of Deoradation — Conclusion . 162 



CHAPTER VI. 

RELIGION. 

Mental Inactivity of Savages — Religious Characteristics of Savages — 
Religious Characteristics of the Lower Races of Man — Classification 
of the Lower Religions — Religions according to Sanchoniatho — 
Religious Condition of the Lowest Races — Absence of Religion — 
Rudimentary Religions — Religious Ideas as suggested by Sleep — 
Religious Ideas as suggested by Dreams — Nightmare — Shadows — 
Thunder — Spirits regarded as Evil — Spirits regarded as causing 
Disease — Madness reverenced — Belief in Witchcraft — Disbelief 
among Savages in the Existence of Natural Death — Low Ideas of 
Spirits entertained by Savages — Greek and Roman Conceptions — 
Savage Ideas as to Eclipses — Various Notions as to Eclipses — Belief 
in Ghosts — Future Life dependent on Mode of Death — Belief in the 
Plurality of Souls — Divination — Sorcery — Confusion of Name and 
Thing— Confusion of Part and Whole — Similarity of Witchcraft — 
Wizards — Belief in Witchcraft shared by European Travellers — 
Sorcerers not necessarily Impostors — Fasting — Religious Dances — 
Smoking as a Religious Ceremony — Intoxication as a Religious Rite 205 



CHAPTER VII. 

RELIGION (continued). 

Animal-Worship — Origin of Animal- Worship — The Kobong — The 
Totem — Totemism in America — Totems in India and Polynesia— Ser- 
pent-Worship — Serpent- Worship in Asia — Africa — Guinea — Why- 
dah — Agoye the Fetich of Whydah — Kaffraria — Madagascar — 
Polynesia — America — The Worship of other Animals — Polynesia — 
Sandwich Islands — ^Fiji Islands — Siberia— China— India— Ceylon 
— The Philippines — Africa— Madagascar — Europe — The Custom of 
Apologising to Animals for killing them— The Worship of the 
Celestial Bodies— Savage Tendency to Deification — Deities not sup- 



xiv CONTENTS 



posed to be Supernatural — Life attributed to Inanimate Objects — 
Souls attributed to Inanimate Objects — Tree- Worship in Europe — 
Egypt — Arabia — Congo — India — Ceylon — Hill Tribes of India — 
Siberia — Sumatra — Philippines — Fijians— North America — Mexico 
— Peru — Patagonia — Water-Worship — Europe — Siberia—India — 
Africa — North America — Central America — The Worship of Stones 
—Attributes of the God Mercury — Siberia — Hindostan — New Zea- 
land — The Arabians — Phoenicians in Europe — Africa — Polynesia — 
Fiji Islands — Micronesia — America — Fire- Worship — Vestals — 
Asia — America — Africa — Sun and Moon Worship — America — India 
— Asia — Africa — Sundry Worships ...... 261 



CHAPTER VIII. 
RELIGION (concluded). 

Religion of Australians — Veddahs — Californians — Bachapins — Kaffirs 
— Fetichism — Hindostan — Negroes — Fetichism in other Races 
— North America — China — Siberia — Africa — Totemism — Develop- 
mental and Adaptational Modifications of Religion — Myths — Sha- 
manism in Siberia — Greenland — Pacific Islands — Africa — India — 
Idolatry — Origin of Idolatry — Connection with the Worship of An- 
cestors — India — Africa — Polynesia — Siberia — Solomon's Explana- 
tion — Idols not mere Emblems — Worship of Men — Worship of 

Chiefs — Worship of Trarellers — The Worship of Principles 

Sacrifices — Confusion of the Victim with the Deity— Worship of the 
Sacrifice — Eating the Sacrifice — Human Sacrifices — Europe — 

America — The Jews — Temples — Priests— Mystery Men— The Soul 

Ideas of Heaven — The Future State — Creation — Prayer — Morality 

— The Progress of Religion— Science and Religion .... 325 



CHAPTER IX. 

CHARACTER AND MORALS. 

Difficulty of ascertaining the Character of Savage Races — -Insecurity 
of Life and Property among Savages— Progress in Morals— Moral 
Condition of Savages— Confusion of Family A flection and Moral 
Feeling— Absence of Moral Feeling-^-Religion not necessarily con- 
nected with Morality— Future Life not necessarily one of Punish- 
ment or Reward— Rank in Heaven — Law and Right Growth of 

Moral Feeling — Origin of Moral Feeling 394 



CONTENTS XV 

PAGE 

CHAPTER X. 

LANGUAGE. 

Gesture Language — The Origin of Language — All Language reducible 
to a Few Root-words — Origin of Root-words — Onomatopoeia — Wear 
and Tear of Words — Nicknames and Slang Terms — Origin of the 
Terms Father and Mother — Words for Father and Mother in A^arious 
Languages — The Choice of Root-words — Poverty of Savage Lan- 
guages — Deficiency in Terms of Afiection — Absence of Abstract Terms 
— Deficiency in Numerals — Savage Diffieulties in Arithmetic — Use 
of the Fingers in Arithmetic, as shown in the Names of Numerals 
— The Origin of the Decimal System 416 

CHAPTER XL 

LAWS. 

Importance of the Subject — Savage Laws not founded on the Family 
— Tyranny of Fashion among Savages — Tyranny of Custom among 
Savages — Superstitious Customs — Rules relating to Legal Cere- 
monies and Contracts — Court Language — Gradations of Rank — Salu- 
tations and Ceremonies — Conduct of Public Business — Property in 
Land — Communal Property — Laws of Inheritance — Absence of 
Wills — Roman Wills — ^Rights of Children — The Yasu — Custom of 
naming Parents after Children — Laws of Inheritance — The Punish- 
ment of Crime — Regulated Revenge — The Laws of Property — Mani- 
fest and Non-Manifest Thieves — The WerD-eld — General Conclusion 448 



APPENDIX. 

PART I. 

Difficulty of obtaining Conclusive Evidence— The Stationary Condi- 
tion of Savages — No Evidence of Earlier Civilisation — Evidence 
derivable from Domestic Animals and Pottery— Indications of Pro- 
gress among Savages— Savages not Incapable of Civilisation- — In- 
digenous Origin of Mexican Civilisation— Progress as indicated by 
Language — Traces of Barbarism in Civilised Countries— Arbitrary 
Customs — Unity of the Human Race— -Mental Differences in the 
Different Races 487 



CONTENTS 



PART II. 



The Weapons of Monkeys — True Nature of Barbarism — Sequence of 
Customs — The Diffusion of Mankind — The Influence of External 
Conditions — The Esquimaux — Original and Universal Barbarism — 
Supposed Inevitability of Degradation — Supposed Evidence of De-^ 
oradation — The Survival of Customs — Progress of Religious Ideas — 
Fetichism — Totemism — Idolatry — The True Theory of the Four 
Ages — Evidence from Crossed Races — Similarity existing between 
Savages and Children — Language of Savages — Tendency to Redu- 
plications — Ancient Ceremonies and Modern Games — Development 
of the Individual, and that of the Species ..... 60: 



NOTES 531 

INDEX o41 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



DESCEIPTION OF THE PLATES. 

PLATE PAGE 

Frontispiece — View op Stonehenge. From an original draw- 
ing by M. Griset To face Title 

I. Sketch op Mammoth, on a piece of ivory, found in the Rock- 
shelter at La Madeleine, in the Dordogne . . To face 38 

IL Fijian Modes of Dressing the Hair. After Williams. 

' Fiji and the Fijians,' p. 158 To face %^ 

III. Indian Sacred Stones. After Forbes Leslie. ' Early Races of 

Scotland,' voL ii. p. 464 To face 808 

IV. A Human Sacrifice in Tahiti. After Cook . . To face 371 

V. Group of Sacred Stones in the Dekhan. After Forbes 

Leslie. * Early Races of Scotland,' vol. ii. p. 460 . To face 375 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURRS. 

FIG. 

1. Group of Reindeer. From a photogTaph presented to me by 

M. le Marquis de Vibraye 39 

2-1. Drawings on Esquimaux Bone Drillbows. Presented to 

the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford by Captain Beechey . 41 

5. North American Indian Census Roll. After Schoolcraft. 

' History of the Indian Tribes,' vol. ii. p. 222 . . . . 47 

6. Indian Gravepost. After Schoolcraft. 'History of the Indian 

Tribes,' vol. i. p. 356 48 

7. Indian Gravepost. After Schoolcraft. 'History of the Indian 

Tribes,' vol. i. p. 356 48 






xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

I'IG. rAGK 

8. Indian Baek Lettee. After Schoolcraft. 'History of the 

Indian Tribes,' vol. i. p. 338 . 49 

9. Indian Bark Letter. After Schoolcraft. ' History of the 

Indian Tribes,' vol. i. p. 336 51 

10. Indian Biography. After Schoolcraft. ' History of the Indian 

Tribes,' vol. i. p. 336 52 

11. Indian Petition. After Schoolcraft. 'History of the Indian 

Tribes,' vol. i. p. 416 53 

12. Caroline Islander. After Freycinet. 'Voyage autour du 

Monde,' pi. 57 64 

13. New Zealand Head. After Freycinet. ' Voyage autour du 

Monde,' pi. 107 65 

14. New Zealand Head. After Freycinet. * Voyage autour du 

Monde,' pi. 1C7 . . . . • 65 

15-17. Shoulder-blades PREPARED FOR Divination. After Klemm. 

' All. Cultur. d. Mens,' vol. iii. p. 200 243 

18, A Sacred Dance of the Virginians. Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 135. 259 

19, Agoye, An Idol op Whiddah, Astley's 'Col. of Voyages,' 

vol. iii. p. 50 272 

20, Sacred Stones, Fiji Islands. Williams, loc. cit. vol. i. 

p. 220 .314 



LIST OF THE PRI.YCIPAL WORKS QUOTED 
IN THIS VOLUME. 



Adelung, Mithridates. 

Allen and Thomson, Exped. to the 

River Niger. 
Arago, Narrative of a Voyage round 

the World. 
Arbousset and Daumas. Tour at the 

Cape of Good Hope. 
Asiatic Researches. 
Astley, Collection of Voyages, 
Atkinson, Oriental and Western 
Siberia, 
„ Upper and 'Lower Amoor. 

Azara, Voyages dans I'Amerique Me- 

ridionale. 

Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht. 

Baikie, Exploring Voyage up the 
Rivers Kwora and Binue. 

Bain, Mental and Moral Science. 

Baker, Albert Nyanza. 

„ Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia. 

Bancroft, Native Races of Pacific 
States. 

Barth, Travels in Central Africa, 

Battel, The Strange Adventures of 
(Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels). 

Beechey, Narrative of a Voyage to the 
Pacific. 

Bosnian, Description of Guinea (Pin- 
kerton's Voyages and Travels), 

Brett, Indian Tribes of Guiana. 

Brooke, Lapland. 

Bruce, Travels in Abyssinia. 

Burchill, Travels in Southern Africa. 

Burton, Lake Regions of Africa, 
„ First Footsteps in Africa, 
„ Abbeokuta and the Cameron 
Mountains. 



Burton, City of the Saints. 

„ Mission to the King of Da- 
home. 

Caillie, Travels to Timbuctoo. 
Callaway, Religious System of the 

Amazulu. 
Campbell, Tales of the West High- 
lands. 
„ Wild Tribes of Khoudistan 

Carver, Travels in North America. 
Casalis, The Basutos. 
Catlin, North American Indians, 
Chapman, Travels in S. Africa, 
Charlevoix, History of Paraguay. 
Clarke, Travels, 
Collins, English Colony in Nev/ South 

Wales. 
Cook, Voyage round the World. (In 
Hawkes worth's- Voyages.) 
„ Second Voyage towards the 

South Pole. 
„ Third Voyage to the Pacific 
Ocean. 
Cox, Manual of Mythology. 
Crantz, History of Greenland. 

Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology of 

Bengal. 
Dalzel, Hist, of Dahomy. 
Darwin, Animals and Plants under 
Domestication. 
,, Origin of Species. 
„ Researches in Geology and 
Natural History. 
Davis (Dr. J, B,), Thesaurus Cranio- 

rum, 
Davis, The Chinese. 



XX 



LIST OF WOBKS QUOTED 



Davy, Account of Ceylon, 

Deane, Worship of the Serpent traced 

throughout the World. 
De Brosses, Du Culte des Dieux 

fetiches. 
De Hell, Steppes of the Caspian Sea. 
Denham, Travels in Africa. 
Depons, Travels in South America. 
Dias, Diccionario da Lingua Tupy. 
Dieffenbach, New Zealand. 
Dobrizhoffer, History of the Abipones. 
Drury, Adventures in Madagascar. 
Dubois, Description of the People of 

India. 
Dulaure, Histoire abregee des diffe- 

rents Cultes. 
Dann, The Oregon Territory. 
Dupuis, Journal of a Eesidence in 

Ashantee. 
D'Urville, Voyage au Pole sud. 

Earle, Residence in New Zealand. 

Egede, Greenland. 

Ellis, Three Visits to Madagascar. 

,, Polynesian Researches. 
Erman, Travels in Siberia. 
Erskine, Western Pacific. 
Eyre, Discoveries in Central Australia. 

Farrar, Origin of Language. 

„ Primitive Manners and Cus- 
toms. 
Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship. 
Fison and Hewitt, The Kamilaroi and 

Kurnai. 
Fitzroy, Voyage of the ' Adventure ' 

and ' Beagle.' 
Forbes Leslie, Early Races of Scotland. 
Forster, Observations made during a 

Voyage round the World. 
Forsyth, Highlands of Central India. 
Franklin, Journey to the Shores of the 

Polar Sea. 
Eraser, Travels in Koordistan and Me- 
sopotamia. 

„ Tour to the Himalaya Moun- 
tains. 
Freycinet, Voyage autour du Monde. 
Fustel de Coulangen, La Cite Antique. 

Gaius, Commentaries on Roman Law. 



Galton, Tropical South Africa. 
Gama, Descripcion historica y crono- 

logica de las Peclras de Mexico. 
Garcilasso de la Vega, Commentaries 

of the Yneas. 
Gardner, Faiths of the World. 
Gibbs (H. H.), Romance of the 

Chevelere Assigne. 
Girard de Rielle, La Mythologie Com- 

paree. 
Girard-Teulon, La Mere chez certains 

Peuples de I'Antiquite. 
Gladstone, Juventus Mundi. 
Goguet, De I'Origine des Lois, des 

Arts et des Sciences. 
Graah, Voyage to Greenland. 
Gray, Travels in Western Africa. 
Grey (Sir G.), Polynesian Mythology. 
„ Journal of Two Expedi- 

tions of Discovery in North- wesit 

and Western Australia. 

Hale, Ethnology of the United States 
Exploring Expedition. 
,, Ethnology and Philology. 
Hallam, History of England. 
Hamilton, Account of the Kingdom 

of Nepaul. 
Hanway, Travels in Persia. 
Hayes, Open Polar Sea. 
Hawkesworth, Voyages of Discovery 

in the Southern Hemisphere. 
Hearne, Vojage to the Northern 

Ocean. 
Herodotus. 

Hooper, Tents of the Tuski. 
Humboldt, Personal Researches. 
Hunter, Comparative Dictionary of 
the Non- Aryan Languages 
of India and High Asia. 

,, The Annals of Rural Bengal. 
Hume, Essays. 

„ History of England. 

Inman, Ancient Faiths in Ancient 
Names. 

James, Expedition to the Rocky 

Mountains. 
Jones, Antiquities of the Southern 

Indians. 



LIST OF WORKS QUOTED 



XXI 



Journal of the Royal Institution. 
Jukes, Voyage of the ' Fly.' 

Karnes, History of Man. 
Kenrick, Phoenicia. 
Keppel, Visit to the Indian Archi- 
pelago. 

„ Expedition to Borneo. 
Klemm, Allgemeine Culturgeschichte 
der Menschheit. 

,, Werkzeuge und Waffen. 
Koelle, Polyglotta Africana. 
Kolben, History of the Cape of Good 

Hope. 
Kolff, Voyage of the * Dourga.' 
Kotzebue, Voyage Round the World. 

Labat, A'oyage aux lies de I'Amerique. 
Labillardiere, Voyage in Search of La 

Perouse. 
Lafitau, Moeurs des Sauvages ameri- 

cains. 
Laird, Expedition into the Interior of 

Africa. 
Lander (R. and J .), Niger Expedition. 
Lang, Aborigines of Australia. 
Latham, Descriptive Ethnology. 
Lecky, History of Rationalism. 
Lewin, Hill Tracts of Chittagong. 
„ Wild Races of South-Eastern 
India. 
Lichtenstein, Travels in South Africa. 
Livingstone, Missionary Travels and 
Researches in South Africa. 
„ Expedition to the Zambesi. 
Locke, On the Human Understanding. 
Lubbock, Prehistoric Times. 
Lyall, Asiatic Studies. 
Lyon, Journal during the Voyage of 

Captain Parry. 

McGillivray, Voyage of the ' Rattle- 
snake.' 

]\IacLean, Compendium of Kaffir Laws 
and Customs. 

M'Lennan, Primitive Marriage. 

„ Studies in Ancient History. 

McMahon, The Karens of the Golden 
Chersonese. 

Maine, Ancient Law. 

„ Early Law and Customs. 



Marco Polo, Travels of. 

Mariner, Tonga Islands. 

Marsden, History of Sumatra. 

Martins, Von dem Rechtszustande 
unter denUreinwohnern Brasiliens. 

Merolla, Voyage to Congo (Pinker- 
ton's Voyages and Travels). 

Metlahkatlah, published by the Church 
Missionary Societ5^ 

Metz, Tribes of the Neilgherries. 

Middendorf, Sibirische Reise. 

Mollhansen, Journey to the Pacific. 

Monboddo, Origin and Progress of 
Language. 

Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois. 

Moor, Notices of the Indian Archi- 
pelago. 

Morgan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila- 
delphia. 

Moser, The Caucasus and its People. 

Mouhot, Travels in the Central Parts 
of Indo-China. 

Miiller (C. 0.), Scientific Mythology. 
„ (C. S.), Description de toutes 
les Nations de I'Empire de 
Russie. 
„ (F. G.), Geschichte der Ameri- 

kanischen Urreligionen. 
„ (Max), Chips from a German 

Workshop. 
„ „ Lectures on Language, 

First Series. 
„ „ Lectures on Language, 

Second Series. 

Nilsson, On the Stone Age. 

Olaus Magnus. 
Ortolan, Justinian. 

Pallas, Voyages en differentes Pro- 
vinces de I'Empire de Rnssie. 
„ Voyages entrepris dans les 
Gouvernements meridionaux 
de rEmj)ire de Russie. 

Park, Travels. 

Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia. 

Perouse, La, Voyage autour du Monde. 

Petherick, Egypt, the Soudan, and 
Central Africa. 

Phear, The Aryan Village. 



XXll 



LIST OF WORKS QUOTED 



Pliny, Natural History. 
Post, Die Anfange des Staats- und 
Eechtslebens. 
,, Der Ursprung des Eechts. 
„ Die Geschlechtsgenosseu- 

schaft. 
„ Bausteine fiir eine allgemeine 

Eechtswissenschaft. 
,, Einleitung in eine Naturwissen- 
schaft des Eechts. 
Pregevalsky, From Kulga to Lob Nor. 
Prescott, History" of Mexico. 

,, History of Peru. 
Prichard, Natural History of Man. 
Proceedings of the American Academy 

of Arts and Sciences. 
Proceedings of the Boston Society of 

Natural History. 
Proyart, History of Loango (Pinker- 
ton's Voyages and Travels). 

Baffles, History of Java. 

Eeade, Savage Africa. 

Eenan, Origine du Langage. 

Eeport of Committee of Legislative 
Council of Victoria on the Abori- 
gines. 

Eeville, Les Eeligions des Peuples non- 
civilises. 

Eichardson, Journal of a Boat Jour- 
ney. 

Eink, Greenland. 

Eobertson, History of America. 

Eoss, Voyage to Baffin's Bay. 

Eutimeyer, Beitr. zur Kenntniss der 
fossilen Pferde. 

Scherzer, Voyage of the 'No vara.' 
Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes. 
Seebohm, The English Village Com- 
munity. 
Seeman, A Mission to Viti. 
Shooter, Kafirs of Natal. 
Shortland, Traditions and Supersti- 
tions of the New Zealanders. 
Smith (A.), Theory of Moral Senti- 
ments and Dissertation on 
the Origin of Languages. 
„ (G.), (Bishop of Victoria), Ten 

Weeks in Japan. 
„ (L), History of Virginia. 



Smith (W.), Voyage to Guinea. 

Smithsonian Eeports. 

Snowden and Prall, Grammar of the 

Mpongwe Language. Nev^' York. 
Speke, Discovery of the Source of the 

Nile. 
Spencer (H.), Principles of Sociology. 

„ and Duncan, Descriptive , 
Sociology. 
Spencer's Principles of Biology. 
Spiers, Life in Ancient India. 
Spix and Martius, Travels in Brazil. 
Sproat, Scenes and Studies of Savage 

Life. 
Squiers, Serpent Symbol in America, 
Stephens, South Australia. 
Stevenson, Tiavels in South America. 
Strahlenberg, Description of Eussia, 

Siberia, and Great Tartary, 
Systems of Land Tenure. Published 

by the Cobden Club. 

Tacitus. 

Tanner, Narrative of a Captivity 
among the North American 
Indians. 

Taylor, New Zealand and its Inhabit- 
ants. 

Tertre, History of the Caribby Islands. 

Tindall, Grammar and Dictionary of 
the Namaqua (Hottentot) Lan- 
guage. 

Transactions of the American Anti- 
quarian Society 

Transactions of the Ethnological Soc. 

Transactions of the E. S. of Victoria. 

Tuckey, Expedition to explore Eiver 
Zaire. 

Tnpper, Punjab Customary Law. 

Turner, Nineteen Years in Polynesia. 

Tylor, Anahuac. 

„ Early History of Man. 

Upliam, History and Doctrine of 
Buddhism in Ceylon. 

Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery. 
Vogt, Lectures on Man. 

Waitz, Anthropologic der Naturvolker. 
Wake, Chapters on Man. 



LIST OF W0BK8 QUOTED 



Wallace, Travels in the Amazons and 
Eio Negro. 
„ Malay Archipelago. 
Watson and Kaye, The People of 

India. 
Wedgwood, Introduction to the Dic- 
tionary of the English 
Language. 
„ Origin of Language. 

Whately (Archbishop of Dublin), 

Political Economy. 
Whipple, Report on the Indian Tribes. 



Whitney, Language, and the Science 
of Language. 

Wilkes, United States Exploring Ex- 
pedition. 

Williams, Fiji and the Fijians. 

Wood, Natural History of Man. 

Wrangel, Siberia and the Polar Sea. 

Wright, Superstitions of England. 

Wuttke, Die ersten Stufen der Gesch., 
der Menschheit. 

Yate, New Zealand. 



THE ORIGIN OE CIVILISATION 

CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

THE study of the lower races of men, apart from the 
dh^ect importance which it possesses in an empire 
like ours, is of great interest from three points of view. 
In the first place, the condition and habits of existing 
savages resemble in many ways, though not in all, those 
of our own ancestors in a period now long gone by : ^ 
in the second, they illustrate much of what is passing 
among ourselves — many customs which have evidently 
no relation to present circumstances ; and some ideas 
which are rooted in our minds, as fossils are imbedded 
in the soil : while, thirdly, we can even, by means of 
them, penetrate some of that mist which separates the 
present from the future. 

In fact, the lower races of men in various parts of the 
world present us with illustrations of a social condition 

^ I am very glad to find that so the general conclusions at which I 

able and cautious a critic as Mr. have arrived. See his Physics and 

Bagehot has expressed his assent to Politics, 1872, especially the excellent 

the line of argument here used, and chapter on ' Nation-making.' 



2 IMPOBTANCE OF THE SUBJECT 

ruder, and more archaic, than any which history records 
as having ever existed among the more advanced races. 
Even among civilised peoples, however, we find traces 
of former barbarism. Not only is language in this re- 
spect extremely instructive ; but laws and customs are 
often of very ancient origin, and contain symbols which 
are the relics of former realities. Thus the use of stone 
knives in certain Egyptian ceremonies points to a time 
when that people habitually used stone implements. 
Again, the form of marriage by purchase (coemptio) 
among the Eomans indicates a period in their history 
when they habitually bought wives, as so many savage 
tribes do now. So also the form of capture in weddings 
can only be explained by the hypothesis that the cap- 
ture of wives was once a stern reality. In such cases 
as these the sequence is obvious. The use of stone 
knives in certain ceremonies is evidently a case of sur- 
vival, not of invention ; and in the same way the form 
of capture in weddings would naturally survive the 
actual reality, while we cannot suppose that the reality 
would rise out of the symbol. 

It must not be assumed, however, that the con- 
dition of primitive man is correctly represented by even 
the lowest of existing races. The very fact that the 
latter have remained stationary, that their manners, 
habits, and mode of life have continued almost unaltered 
for generations, has created a strict, and often compli- 
cated, system of customs, from which the former was 
necessarily free, but which has in some cases gradually 
acquired even more than the force of law. In order 
then, to arrive at a clear idea of this primitive con- 
dition of the human race, we must eliminate these 



NATURE OF THE EVIBENOE 3 

customs from our conception of that condition ; and 
this we are best enabled to do by a comparison of 
savao;e tribes belonofino; to different families of the 
human race. 

Although the differences of race, of geographical 
position, and of their general surroundings, have neces- 
sarily led to considerable divergencies in the social and 
mental development of different tribes, still I have en- 
deavoured to show that, in the main, the development 
of higher and better ideas as to Marriage, Relationships, 
Law, Religion, &c., has followed in its earlier stages a 
very similar course even in the most distinct races of 
man ; and when we find customs and ideas which to us 
seem absurd or illogical, reappearing in separate families 
of mankind at the same stage of development, we may 
safely conclude that, however absurd they may appear 
to us, they rest on some ground which once appeared 
sufficient, and are no unmeaning or insignificant acci- 
dents. 

It has been said by some writers that savages are 
merely the degenerate descendants of more civilised an- 
cestors, and I am far from denying that there are cases 
of retrogression. But, in the first place, a tribe which 
had sunk from civilisation into barbarism would by no 
means exhibit the same features as one which had risen 
into barbarism from savagery. And, what is even more 
important, races which fall back in civilisation diminish 
in numbers. The whole history of man shows how the 
stronger and progressive increase in numbers, and drive 
out the weaker and lower races. I have endeavoured, 
for instance, to show that the ideas on the subject of 
relationships which are prevalent among the less 

B 2 



4 EVIDENCE OF PBOGBESS 

advanced races, would naturally arise in the course of 
progress, but are inconsistent with the theory of degra- 
dation. So, again, a people who trusted in luck would 
have no chance in the struggle for existence against one 
which believed in law : if we find a belief in fetichism 
interwoven with the religion of even the highest races, 
it is because these races were Fetichists before they 
became Buddhist, Mahometan, or Christian. A tribe 
in which the feeling of relationship was weak and ill- 
defined would be at a great disadvantage as compared 
with one in which the family feeling was strong. Hence, 
although we are very far as yet from having arrived 
at such a result, I believe it will be possible for us to 
realise to ourselves a condition through which cur 
ancestors must have passed in pre-historic times — one 
more primitive than any of which we have at present 
an actual example. 

At any rate, it cannot be doubted that the careful 
study of manners and customs, traditions and supersti- 
tions, will eventually solve many difficult problems of 
Ethnology. This mode of research, however, requires 
to be used with great caution, and has in fact led to 
many erroneous conclusions. For instance, in more 
than one case, savage races have been regarded as de- 
scendants of the Ten Tribes, because their customs 
offered some singular points of resemblance with those 
recorded in the Pentateuch. In these cases, a wider 
acquaintance with the manners and customs of savage 
races would have shown that these coincidences, so far 
from being, as supposed, peculiar to these tribes, were, 
in fact, common to several, if not to most, of the prin- 
cipal races of mankind. Much careful study will, there- 



IMFOETANGE OF THE SUBJECT 5 

fore, be required before this class of evidence can be 
used with safety, though I doubt not that eventually it 
will be found most instructive. 

The study of savage life is, moreover, as I have 
already observed, of peculiar importance to us, forming, 
as we do, part of a great empire, with, colonies in every 
part of the world, and fellow-citizens in many stages of 
civilisation. Of this our Indian possessions afford us a 
good illustration. 'We have studied the lowland popu- 
' lation,' says Mr. Hunter,-'- ' as no conquerors ever studied 
' or understood a subject race. Their history, their habits, 
'their requirements, their very weaknesses and preju- 
' dices are known, and furnish a basis for those political 
' inductions which, under the titles of administrative 
' foresight and timely reform, meet popular movements 
' half-way. The East India Company grudged neither 
' honours nor solid rewards to any meritorious effort to 
* illustrate the peoples whom it ruled.' . . , 

' The practical result now appears. English ad- 
' ministrators understand the Aryan, and are almost 
' totally ignorant of the non- Aryan, population of 
' India. They know with remarkable precision how 
' a measure will be received by the higher or purely 
' Aryan ranks of the community ; they can foresee 
' with less certainty its effect upon the lower or semi- 
' Aryan classes, but they neither know nor venture to 
' predict the results of any line of action among the 
'non- Aryan tribes. Political calculations are impos- 
' sible without a knowledge of the j)eople. But the evil 
' does not stop here. In the void left by ignorance, 
' prejudice has taken up its seat, and the calamity of 

^ Non -Aryan Languages of India, p. 2. 



6 DIFFICULTY OF THE SUBJECT 

' the lion- Aryan races is not merely that they are not 
^ understood, but that they are misrepresented.' 

Well, therefore, has it been observed by Sir Henry 
Maine, in his excellent work on ' Ancient Law,' that, 

* even if they gave more trouble than they do, no pains 

* would be wasted in ascertaining the germs out of 

* which has assuredly been unfolded every form of 
' moral restraint which controls our actions and shapes 
' our conduct at the present moment. ... As societies 

* do not advance concurrently, but at different rates of 
' progress, there have been epochs at which men trained 
^ to habits of methodical observation have really been 

* in a position to watch and describe the infancy of 
' mankind.' ^ He refers particularly to Tacitus, whom 
he praises for having ' made the most of such an oppor- 

' tunity ;' adding, however, 'but the '' Germany," unlike 
' most celebrated classical books, has not induced others 
' to follow the excellent example set by its author, and 
' the amount of this sort of testimony which we possess 
' is exceedingly small.' 

This is, however, I think, far from being reallv the 
case. At all ejDochs some ' men trained to habits of 
' methodical observation have really been in a ]30sition 
to watch and describe the infancy of mankind,' and 
the testimony of our modern travellers is in many cases 
of the same nature as that for which we are indebted to 
Tacitus. 

It must, however, be admitted that our information 
with reference to the social and moral condition of the 
lower races of man is certainly very far from being 
satisfactory, either in extent or in accuracy. Travellers 

^ Maine's Ancient Law, p. 120. 



MENTAL CONDITION OF 8AVAGUS 7 

naturally find it far easier to describe the houses, boats, 
food, dress, weapons, and implements of savages, than 
to understand their thoughts and feelings. The whole 
mental condition of a savage is so different from ours, 
that it is often very difficult to follow what is passing 
in his mind, or to understand the motives by which he 
is influenced. Many things appear natural and almost 
self-evident to him, which produce a very different im- 
pression on us. ' What ! ' said a negro to Burton, ' am 
' I to starve, while my sister has children whom she can 
' sell ? ' 

When the natives of the Lower Murray first saw 
pack oxen, some of them were frightened and took them 
for demons ^ with spears on their heads,' while others 
thought they were the wives of the settlers, because 
they carried the baggage.-^ 

Moreover, though savages always have a reason, 
such as it is, for what they do and what they believe, 
their reasons often are very absurd. The difficulty of 
ascertaining what is passing in their minds is of course 
much enhanced by the difficulty of communicating 
with them. This has produced many laughable mis- 
takes. Thus, when Labillardiere enquired of the 
Friendly Islanders the word for 1,000,000, they seem 
to have thought the question absurd, and answered him 
by a word which apparently has no meaning ; when he 
asked for 10,000,000, they said ' laoalai,' which I will 
leave unexplained; for 100,000,000, 'laounoua,' that is 
to say, • nonsense ; ' while for the higher numbers they 
gave him certain coarse expressions, which he has 
gravely published in his table of numerals. 

^ Taplin, The Narinyeri, p. 53. 



8 EBE0B8 ARISING FBOM 

A mistake made by Dampier led to more serious 
results. He bad met some Australians, and appre- 
bending an attack, be says : — ' I discbarged my gun to 
^ scare tbem, but avoided sbooting any of tbem ; till, 
^finding tbe young man in great danger from tbem, 
' and myself in some, and tbat tbougb tbe gun bad a little 
' frigbtened tbem at first, yet they had soon learnt to despise 
^ it, tossing up tbeir bands, and crying "Poob, poob, 
' ^'poob ! " and coming on afresb witb a great noise, I 
^ tbougbt it bigb time to cbarge again, and sboot one of 
^ tbem, wbicb I did . . . and returned back with my men, 
' designing to attempt tbe natives no fartber, being very 
'sorry for wbat bad happened already.'^ 'Poob, 
'poob,' however, or 'puff, puif,' is tbe name which 
savages, like children, naturally apply to guns. 

Another source of error is, tbat savages are often 
reluctant to contradict wbat is said to tbem. Living- 
stone calls special attention to this as a character- 
istic of tbe natives of Africa.^ Mr. Oldfield,^ again, 
speaking of the Australians, tells us : — ' I have found 
' this habit of non- contradiction to stand very much 
' in my way when making enquiries of tbem, for, as 
' my knowledge of their language was only sufficient 
'to enable me to seek information on some points 
' by putting suggestive questions, in which they im- 
' mediately concurred, I was frequently driven nearly 
' to my wits' end to arrive at the truth. A native once 
' brought me in some specimens of a species of euca- 
^lyptus, and being desirous of ascertaining the habit of 
' the plant, I asked, " A tall tree ? " to which bis ready 

* Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. si. p. 473. ^ Expedition to tlie Zamlbesi, p. 309. 
3 Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. vol. iii. p. 255. 



IGNOUANGE OF LANGUAGE 9 

' answer was in the affirmative. Not feeling quite 
' satisfied, I again demanded, " A low bush ? " to which 
' '' Yes," was also the response.' 

Again, the mind of the savage, like that of the child, 
is easily fatigued, and he will then give random answers, 
to spare himself the trouble of thought. Speaking of 
the Ahts (N.W.America), Mr. Sproat^ says: — 'The 
' native mind, to an educated man, seems generally to 
' be asleep ; and if you suddenly ask a novel question, 
' you have to repeat it while the mind of the savage is 
' awaking, and to speak with emphasis until he has quite 
' got your meaning. ... A short conversation wearies 
' him, particularly if questions are asked that require 
' eflforts of thought or memory on his part. The mind 
' of the savage then appears to rock to and fro out of 
' mere weakness, and he tells lies and talks nonsense.' 

' I frequently enquired of the negroes,' says Park, 
' what became of the sun during the night, and whether 
' we should see the same sun or a different one, in the 
' morning ; but I found that they considered the ques- 
' tion as very childish. The subject appeared to them 
' as placed beyond the reach of human investigation ; 
'they had never indulged a conjecture, nor formed any 
' hypothesis, about the matter.' - 

Such ideas are, in fact, entirely beyond the mental 
range of the lower savages, w^hose extreme mental in- 
feriority we have much difficulty in realising. 

Speaking of the wild men in the interior of Borneo, 
Mr. Dalton^ says that they are found living 'absolutely 



^ Scenes and Studies of Savage ^ Moor's Notices of the Indian 

Life, p. 120. Archipelago, p. 49. See also Keppel's 

- Park's Travels, vol. i. p. 265. Expedition to Borneo, vol. ii. p. 10. 



10 ABJECT CONDITION OF TUB 

^ in a state of nature, who neither cultivate the ground 
^ nor live in huts ; who neither eat rice nor salt, and who 

* do not associate with each other, but rove about some 
' woods, like wild beasts ; the sexes meet in the jungle, 

* or the man carries away a woman from some campong. 
^ When the children are old enough to shift for them- 

* selves, they usually separate, neither one afterwards 
' thinking of the other. At night they sleep under some 
4arge tree, the branches of which hang low ; on 
^ these they fasten the children in a kind of swing ; 
' around the tree they make a fire to keep off the wild 
' beasts and snakes. They cover themselves with a piece 
' of bark, and in this also they wrap their children ; it 
' is soft and warm, but will not keep out the rain. The 
' poor creatures are looked on and treated by the other 
' Dyaks as wild beasts.' 

Lichtenstein describes a Bushman as presenting 
^ the true physiognomy of the small blue ape of Caf- 
^ fraria. What gives the more verity to such a com- 
^ parison was the vivacity of his eyes, and the flexibility 
' of his eye-brows. . . . Even his nostrils and the 
^ corners of his mouth, nay his very ears, moved in- 
^ voluntarily. . . . There was not, on the contrary, a 
' single feature in his countenance that evinced a con- 
' sciousness of mental powers.' -^ 

Under these circumstances it cannot be wondered at 
that we have most contradictory accounts as to the cha- 
racter and mental condition of savages. Nevertheless, 
by comparing together the accounts of different tra- 
vellers, we can to a great extent avoid these sources of 

^ Lichtenstein, vol. ii. p. 224. 



L0WE8T EACU8 OF MEN 11 

error ; and we are very much aided in this by the re- 
markable similarity between different races. So striking, 
indeed, is this, that different races in similar stages of 
development often present more features of resemblance 
to one another than the same race does to itself in 
different stages of its history. 

Some ideas, which seem to us at first inexplicable 
and fantastic, are yet very widely distributed. Thus 
among many races a woman is absolutely forbidden to 
speak to her son-in-law. Franklin ^ tells us that among 
the American Indians of the far North ' it is considered 
^ extremely improper for a mother-in-law to speak or 
' even look at him ; and when she has a communication 
^ to make to him it is the etiquette that she should turn 
' her back upon him, and address him only through the 
' medium of a third person.' 

Further south, among the Omahaws, ^ neither the 
^ father-in-law nor mother-in-law will hold any direct 
^ communication with their son-in-law.' ^ Harmon says 
that among the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains 
the same rule prevails. Baegert ^ mentions that among 
the Indians of California ' the son-in-law was not 
' allowed, for some time, to look into the face of his 
' mother-in-law, or his wife's nearest relations, but had 
' to step on one side, or to hide himself when these 
' women were present.' 

Lafitau,^ indeed, makes the same statements as re- 
gards the North American Indians generally. We find 

^ Journey to the Shores of the Translated by 0. Rau, in Smith- 
Polar Sea, vol. i. p. 137. sonian Rep. for 1863-4, p. 368. 

^ James's Expedition to the ^ Moeurs des Sauvages Ameri- 

Rocky Mountains, vol. i. p. 232. cains, vol. i. p. 676. 

2 Account of California, 1773. 



12 GUBI0U8 CUSTOMS WITH BEFEBENGE TO 

it among the Crees and Dacotahs, and again in Florida. 
Rochefort mentions it among the Caribs, and in South 
America it recurs among the Arawaks. 

In Asia, among the Mongols and Kalmucks, a woman 
must not speak to her father-in-law nor sit down in his 
presence. Among the Ostiaks of Siberia,^ ' une fille 
mariee evite autant qu'il lui est possible la presence du 
pere de son mari, tant qu'elle n'a pas d'enfant ; et le 
mari, pendant ce temps, n'ose pas paroitre devant la 
mere de sa femme. S'ils se rencontrent par hasard, le 
mari lui tourne le dos, et la femme se couvre le visage. 
On ne donne point de nom aux filles ostiakes ; lors- 
qu'elles sont mariees, les hommes les nomment Imi, 
femmes. Les femmes, par respect pour leurs maris, 
ne les appellent pas par leur nom ; elles se servent du 
mot de Take, hommes.' 

In China, according to Duhalde, the father-in-law, 
after the wedding day, * never sees the face of his 
* daughter-in-law again ; he never visits her,' and if they 
chance to meet he hides himself.^ A similar custom 
prevails in Borneo and in the Fiji Islands. In Australia, 
also. Eyre states that a man must not pronounce the 
name of his father in-law, his mother-in-law, or his 
son-in-law. 

Dubois mentions that in certain districts of Hindo- 
stan a woman ' is not permitted to speak to her mother- 
' in-law. When any task is prescribed to her, she shows 
' her acquiescence only by signs ; ' a contrivance, he 

1 Pallas, vol. iv. pp. 71, 577. Russie, pt. i. pp. 191-203; pt. ii. 

He makes the same statement with p. 104. 

reference to the Samoyedes, loc. cit. ^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, 

p. 99. See also Miiller, Description vol. iv. p. 91. 
de toutes les Nations de I'Empire de 



M0THEB8-IN-LAW 13 

sarcastically adds, ' well adapted for securing domestic 

• tranquillity.' ^ 

In Central Africa, Gail lie '^ observes that, ' from this 
moment the lover is not to see the father and mother 
of his future bride : he takes the greatest care to avoid 
them, and if by chance they perceive him they cover 
their faces, as if all ties of friendship were broken. I 
tried in vain to discover the origin of this whimsical 
custom ; the only answer I could obtain was, " It's our 
'' way." The custom extends beyond the relations : if 
the lover is of a different camp, he avoids all the in- 
habitants of the lady's camp, except a few intimate 
friends whom he is permitted to visit. A little tent is 
generally set up for him, under which he remains all 
day, and if he is obliged to come out, or to cross the 
camp, he covers his face. He is not allowed to see his 
intended during the day, but, when everybody is at 
rest, he creeps into her tent and remains with her till 
daybreak.' Among the Kaffirs^ a married woman 'is 
required to " hlonipa " her father-in-law and all her 
husband's male relations in the ascending line — that 
is, to be cut off from all intercourse with them. She 
is not "allowed to pronounce their names, even men- 
tally ; and whenever the emphatic syllable of either of 
their names occurs in any other word, she must avoid 
it, by either substituting an entirely new word, or at 
least another syllable, in its place. The son-in-law is 
placed under certain restrictions towards his mother- 
in-law. He cannot enjoy her society or remain in the 

^ On the People of India, p. 235. ^ KaiRr Laws and Customs, pp. 

- Caillie's Travels to TimlDuctoo, 95, 96. 
Yol. i. p. 94. 



14 MOTHERS-IN-LAW 

^ same hut with her ; nor can he pronounce her name. ^ 
Among the Bushmen in the far South, Chapman re- 
counts exactly the same thing, yet none of these obser- 
vers had any idea how general the custom is. 

In Australia, among the aborigines of Victoria, ' it 
^ is compulsory on the mothers-in-law to avoid the sight 
^ of their sons-in-law, by making the mothers-in-law 
^ take a very circuitous route on all occasions to avoid 
* being seen, and they hide the face and figure with the 
' rug which the female carries about her.' ^ So strict is 
the rule, that if married men are jealous of any one, 
they sometimes promise to give him a daughter in 
marriage. This places the wife, according to custom, 
in the position of a mother-in-law, and renders any 
communication between her and her future son-in-law a 
capital crime. 

More or less similar customs occur among the 
Dyaks, and other races, and cannot possibly be without 
a cause. 

Mr. Tylor, who has some very interesting remarks 
on these customs in his ' Early History of Man,' observes 
that 'it is hard even to 2:uess what state of thing's 
' could have brought them into existence,' nor, so far 
as I am aware, has any one else attempted to explain 
them. In the Chapter on Marriage I shall, however 
point out the manner in which I conceive that they 
have arisen. 

Another curious custom is that known in Bearn 
under the name of La Couvade. Probably every Eno-- 
lishman who had not studied other races would assume 
as a matter of course, that on the birth of a child the 

^ Keport of Select Committee on Aborigines, Victoria, 1859, p. 73. 



LA GOUVADU 15 

motlier would everywhere be put to bed and nursed. 
But this is not the case. In many races the father, and 
not the mother, is doctored when a baby is born. 

Yet though this custom seems so ludicrous to us, 
it is very widely distributed. Commencing with South 
America, DobritzhofFer tells us that ' no sooner do you 
^ hear that a woman has borne a child, than you see the 
^ husband lying in bed huddled up with mats and skins, 
* lest some ruder breath of air should touch him, fasting, 
^ kept in private, and for a number of days abstaining 
^ religiously from certain viands : you would swear it 
^ was he who had had the child. ... I had read about 
' this in old times, and laughed at it, never thinking I 
^ could believe such madness, and I used to suspect 
^ that this barbarian custom was related more in jest 
' than in earnest ; but at last I saw it with my own 
^ eyes among the Abipones.' 

In Brazil, among the Coroados, Martins tells us that 
^ as soon as the woman is evidently pregnant, or has 
' been delivered, the man withdraws. A strict regimen 
' is observed before the birth ; the man and the woman 
' refrain for a time from the flesh of certain animals, and 
' live chiefly on fish and fruits.' ^ 

Further north, in Guiana, Mr. Brett ^ observes that 
' some of the men of the Acawoio and Caribi nations, 
' when they have reason to expect an increase of their 
' families, consider themselves bound to abstain from 
^ certain kinds of meat, lest the expected child should, 
* in some very mysterious way, be injured by their par- 
' taking of it. The Acouri (or Agouti) is thus tabooed, 

^ Spix's and Martius's Travels in ^ Brett's Indian Tribes of Guiana, 

Brazil, vol. ii. p. 247. p. 355. 



16 



REASON FOB LA COJJYABE 



lest, like that little animal, the child should be meagre : 
the Haimara, also, lest it should be blind — the outer 
coating of the eye of that fish suggestmg film or 
cataract ; the Lahba, lest the infant's mouth should 
protrude like the labba's or lest it be spotted like the 
labba, which spots would ultimately become ulcers.' 
And again : — ' On the birth of a child, the ancient 
Indian etiquette requires the father to take to his ham- 
mock, where he remains some days as if he were sick, 
and receives the cons^ratulations and condolence of his 
friends. An instance of this custom came under my 
own observation, where the man, in robust health and 
excellent condition, without a single bodily ailment, 
was lying in his hammock in the most provoking 
manner, and carefully and respectfully attended by 
the women, while the mother of the new-born infant 
was cooking — none apparently regarding her ! ' ^ 
Similar statements have been made by various other 
travellers, including De Tertre, Giliz, Biet, Fermin, and 
in fact almost all who have written on the natives of 
South America. 

In North America, Bancroft mentions the existence 
of a similar custom among the natives of California and 
New Mexico. Remy states that among the Shoshones, 
when a woman is in labour, the husband also is bound 
' to remain in seclusion, away from every one, even from 
' his wife.' ^ In Greenland, after a woman is confined, 
the 'husband must forbear working for some weeks, 
« neither must they drive any trade during that time ; '^ 
in Kamskatka, for some time before the birth of a baby, 



1 Brett, loG. cit. p. 101. 

^ Journey to the Great Salt Lake 



City, p. 126. 

2 Egede's Greenland, p. 196. 



BEASON FOB LA COUVADE 17 

the husband must do no hard work. In South India, 
Mr. Tylor^ quotes Mr. F. W. Jennings as stating that 
among natives of the higher castes about Madras, 
Seringapatam, and on the Malabar Coast, ' a man, at the 
' birth of his first son or daughter by the chief wife, or 
^ for any son afterwards, will retire to bed for a lunar 
^ month, living principally on a rice diet, abstaining 
*from exciting food and from smokmg.' In Fiji, also, 
when a child is born, the father, as well as the mother, 
is careful to abstain from eating anything which might 
disagree with the infant. 

Similar notions occur among the Chinese of West 
Yunnan, among the Dyaks of Borneo, in Melanesia, in 
Madagascar, on the west coast of Africa, among the 
Kaffirs, in the north of Spain, in Corsica, and in the south 
of France, where it is called ' faire la couvade.' While, 
however, I regard this curious custom as of much 
ethnological interest, I cannot agree with Mr. Tylor in 
regarding it as evidence that the races by whom it is 
practised belong to one variety of the human species.^ 
On the contrary, I believe that it originated indepen- 
dently in several distinct parts of the world. 

It is of course evident that a custom so ancient, and 
so widely spread, must have its origin in some idea 
which satisfies the savage mind. Several explanations 
have been suggested. Professor Max Muller,^ in his 
' Chips from a Grerman Workshop,' says : — ' It is clear 
' that the poor husband was at first tyrannised over by 
'his female relations, and afterwards frio^htened into 



^ Tylor's Early History of Man, ^ Chips from a German Work- 

2nd ed., p. 301. shop, vol. ii. p. 281. 

' Loc. cit. p. 296. 



18 SAVAGE IDEAS OK TEE INFLUENCE OF FOOD 

^superstition. He then began to make a martyr of 
' himself till he made himself really ill, or took to his 
' bed in self-defence. Strange and absurd as the cou- 
' vade appears at first sight, there is something in it 
' with which, we believe, most mothers-in-law can 
' sympathise.' Lafitau^ regards it as arising from a dim 
recollection of original sin ; rejecting the Carib and 
Abipon explanation, which I have little doubt is the 
correct one, that they do it because they believe that if 
the father engaged in any rough work, or was careless 
in his diet, ' cela feroit mal a I'enfant, et que cet enfant 
' participeroit a tons les defauts naturels des animaux 
* dont le pere auroit mange.' 

This idea — namely, that a person imbibes the 
characteristics of an animal which he eats — is very 
widely distributed. In India, Forsyth mentions that 
Mahouts often give their elephant ' a piece of a tiger's 
^ liver to make him courageous, and the eyes of the 
' brown horned owl to make him see well at night.' ^ 
The Malays at Singapore also give a large price for the 
flesh of the tiger, not because they like it, but because 
they believe that the man who eats tiger ^ acquires the 
^ sagacity as well as the courage of that animal,'^ an 
idea which occurs among several of the Indian hill 
tribes.^ 

' The Dyaks of Borneo have a prejudice against the 
^ flesh of deer, which the men may not eat, but which is 
^allowed to women and children. The reason given 
' for this is, that if the warriors eat the flesh of deer 

1 Moeurs des Saiivages Am6ri- ^ Keppel's Visit to the Indian 
cains, vol. i. p. 259. Archipelago, p. 13. 

2 Forsyth's Highlands of Central * Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 
India, p. 452. p. 38. 



SAVAGE IDEAS ON THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD 19 

* they become as faint-hearted as that animal.' ^ ' In 
^ ancient times those who wished for children used to 
^ eat frogs, because that animal lays so many eggs.' ^ 

The Caribs will not eat the flesh of pigs or of tor- 
toises, lest their eyes should become as small as those 
of these animals.^ The Dacotahs eat the liver of the 
dog, in order to possess the sagacity and courage of 
that animal.^ The Arabs also imjDute the passionate 
and revengeful character of their countrymen to the 
use of camel's flesh.^ In Siberia the bear is eaten under 
the idea that its flesh ' gives a zest for the chase, and 
' renders them proof against fear.' ^ The Kaffirs also 
prepare a powder 'made of the dried flesh of various 
^ wild beasts, intending by the administering of this 
' compound to impart to the men the qualities of the 
^ several animals.' ^ 

Tylor^ mentions that an 'English merchant in 
^ Shanghai, at the time of the Taeping attack, met his 
' Chinese servant carrying home a heart, and asked him 
' what he had got there. He said it was the heart of a 
^ rebel, and that he was going to take it home and eat 
'it to make him brave.' The New Zealanders, after 
baptising an infant, used to make it swallow pebbles, 
so that its heart might be hard and incapable of pity.^ 
Even cannibalism is sometimes due to this idea, and the 
New Zealanders eat their most formidable enemies partly 

^ Keppel's Expedition to Borneo, ^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, 

vol. i. p. 231. vol. ii. p. 143. 

^ Inman's Ancient Faiths in An- " Atkinson's Upper and Lovrer 

cient Names, p. 383. Amoor, p. 462. 

^ Miiller's Geschichte der Ameri- '^ Callaway's Religious System of 

canischen Urreli^ionen, p. 221. tlie Amazulu, pt. iv. p. 438. 

* Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, vol, ^ Early History of Man, p. 131 . 

ii. p. 80. ^ Yate's New Zealand, p. 82. 

c 2 



20 SAVAGE IDEAS WITS REFERENCE TO PORTRAITS 

for this reason. Until quite recent times many medical 
remedies were selected on this principle. It is from the 
same kind of idea that ' eyebright,' because the flower 
somewhat resembles an eye, was supposed to be good 
for ocular complaints. 

To us the idea seems absurd. Not so to children. 
I have myself heard a little girl say to her brother, ' If 
' you eat so much goose you will be quite silly ; ' and 
there are perhaps few children to whom the induction 
would not seem perfectly legitimate. 

From the same notion, the Esquimaux, ' to render 
' barren women fertile or teeming, take old pieces of the 
* soles of our shoes to hang about them ; for, as they 
' take our nation to be more fertile, and of a stronger 
' disposition of body than theirs, they fancy the virtue 
^ of our body communicates itself to our clothing.' ^ 

In fact, savages do not act without reason, any more 
than we do, though their reasons may often be bad ones 
and seem to us singularly absurd. Thus they have a 
great dread of having their portraits taken. The better 
the likeness, the worse they think for the sitter ; so 
much life could not be put into the copy, except at the 
expense of the original. Once, when a good deal an- 
noyed by some Indians, Kane got rid of them instantly 
by threatening to draw theui if they remained. Catlin 
tells an amusing, but melancholy, anecdote in reference 
to this feeling. On one occasion he was drawing a 
chief named Mahtocheega, in profile. This, when ob- 
served, excited much commotion among the Indians : 
' Why was half his face left out ? ' they asked ; ' Mah- 
' tocheega was never ashamed to look a white man in the 

^ Egede's Greenland, p. 198. 



0UBI0U8 IDEAS WITH BEFUBUNGJE TO PORTRAITS 21 

' face.' Malitocheega himself does not seem to have 
taken any offence, but Shonka, ' the Bog,* took advan- 
tage of the idea to taunt him. ' The Englishman knows,' 
he said, ' that you are but half a man ; he has painted 
' but one half of your face, and he knows that the rest 
' is good for nothing.' This view of the case led to a 
fight, in which poor Mahtocheega was shot ; and, as ill 
luck w^ould have it, the bullet by which he was killed 
tore away just that part of the face which had been 
omitted in the drawing. 

This was very unfortunate for Mr. Catlin, who had 
great difficulty in making his escape, and lived some 
months after in fear of his life ; nor was the matter 
settled until both Shonka and his brother had been 
killed in revenge for the death of Mahtocheega. 

Franklin also mentions that the North American 
Indians ' prize pictures very highly, and esteem any 
'they can get, however badly executed, as efficient 
charms.' ^ The natives of Bornou had a similar 
horror of being ' written ; ' they said ' that they did not 
' like it ; that the Sheik did not like it ; that it was a 
' sin ; and I am quite sure, from the impression, that we 
' had much better never have produced the book at all.' ^ 
The Fetich women in Dahome, says Burton, ' were easily 
' dispersed by their likenesses being sketched.' ^ In his 
Travels in Lapland, Sir A. de C. Brooke says : — ' I 
' could clearly perceive ^ that many of them imagined 
' the magical art to be connected with what I was doing, 
^ and on this account showed signs of uneasiness, till 

^ Voyage to the Polar Seas^ ii. 6. ^ Mission to the King of Da- 

~ Denham's Travels in Africa, home, i. 278. 
vol. i. p. 27-5. ' '^ Brooke's Lapland, p. 354. 



22 SAVAGE IDEAS IN BEGAED TO WRITING 

' reassured by some of the merchants. An instance of 
' this happened one morning, when a Laplander knocked 
' at the door of my chamber, and entered it, as they 
' usually did, without further ceremony. Having come 
' from Alten to Hammerfest on some business, curiosity 
' had induced him, previously to his return, to pay the 
' Englishman a visit. After a dram he seemed quite at, 
' his ease ; and producing my pencil, I proceeded, as he 
' stood, to sketch his portrait. His countenance now 
* immediately changed, and taking up his cap, he was on 
^ the point of making an abrupt exit, without my being 
^ able to conjecture the cause. Ashe spoke only his 
^ own tongue, I was obliged to have recourse to as- 
' sistance ; when I found that his alarm was occasioned 
' by my employment, which he at once comprehended, 
' but suspected that, by obtaining a likeness of him, I 
' should acquire over him a certain power and influence 
' that might be prejudicial. He therefore refused to 
' allow it, and expressed a wish, before any other steps 
^ were taken, to return to Alten, and ask the permission 
' of his master.' Mr. Ellis mentions the existence of a 
similar feeling in Madagascar.^ 

We can hardly wonder that writing should seem to 
savages even more magical than drawing. Carver, for 
instance, allowed the North American Indians to open 
a book as often as and wherever they pleased, and then 
told them the number of leaves. ' The only way they 
' could account,' he says, ' for my knowledge, was by 
' concluding that the book was a spirit, and whispered 
^ me answers to whatever I demanded of it.' '^ 

^ Three Visits to Madagascar, p. 358. 2 Travels, p. 265. 



SAVAGE IDEAS IN BEGABD TO WRITING 23 

Father Btiegert mentions ^ that ' a certain missionary 
^ sent a native to one of his colleagues, with some loaves 
^ of bread and a letter statmg their number. The mes- 
' senger ate a part of the bread, and the theft was con- 
' sequently discovered. Another time when he had to 
' deliver four loaves, he ate two of them, but hid the 
' accompanying letter under a stone while he was thus 
' engaged, believing that his conduct would not be 
* revealed this time, as the letter had not seen him in 
' the act of eating the loaves.' 

Further north, the Minatarrees, seeing Catlin intent 
over a copy of the ' New York Commercial Advertiser,' 
were much puzzled, but at length came to the conclu- 
sion that it was a medicine- cloth for sore eyes. One of 
them eventually bought it for a high price.''^ 

This use of writing as a medicine prevails largely in 
Africa, where the priests or wizards w^ite a prayer on a 
piece of board, wash it off, and make the patient drink 
it. Caillie ^ met with a man who had a great reputation 
for sanctity, and who made his living by writing prayers 
on a board, washing them off, and then selling the water, 
which was sprinkled over various objects and supposed 
to improve or protect them. 

Mungo Park on one occasion profited by this idea. 
' A Bambarran having,' he says, ' heard that I was a 
' Christian, immediately thought of procuring a saphie ; 
^ and for this purpose brought out his walha or writing- 
' board, assuring me that he would dress me a supper 
' of rice if I would write him a saphie to protect him 
' from wicked men. The proposal was of too great 

^ Smithsonian Report, 1864, p. 379. ^^ 
2 American Indians, vol. ii. p. 92. ^ Travels, vol. i. p. 262. 



24 USJE OF FBAYEBS AS MEBIGINE 

' consequence to me to be refused ; I therefore wrote the 
' board full from top to bottom on both sides ; and my 
^landlord, to be cerlain of having the whole force of 
' the charm, washed the writing from the board into a 
^calabash with a little water, and, having said a few 
' prayers over it, drank this powerful draught ; after 
' which, lest a smgie word should escape, he licked the 
'board until it was quite dry.'^ The same practice 
occurs in India, where, however. Sir A. Lyall tells 
me that the native practitioner may sometimes be seen 
openly mixing croton oil in the ink with which he 
writes his charm. 

Among the Kirghiz, also, Atkinson tells us that 
the Mullas sell amulets, ' at the rate of a sheep 
' for each scrap of paper ; ' ^ and similar charms are 
' in great request among the Turkomans,' ^ and in 
Afghanistan.^ 

In Africa, the prayers written as medicine or as 
amulets are generally taken from the Koran. It is 
admitted that they are no protection from firearms ; 
but this does not the least weaken the faith in them, 
because, as guns were not invented in Mahomet's time, 
he naturally provided no specific against them.^ 

The science of medicine, indeed, like that of astro- 
nomy, and like religion, assumes among savages very 
much the character of witchcraft. 

Ignorant as they are of the processes by which life 

^ Park's Travels, vol. i. p. 357. Asia, p. 50. 
See also p. 56. Caillie's Travels to ^ Masson's Travels in Balo- 

Timbuctoo, vol. i.p. 376. Earth, vol. chistan, Afghanistan, &c., vol. i. pp. 

"• P- 449. 74, 90, 312 ; vol. ii. pp. 127, 302. 

2 Siberia, p. 310. 5 Astley's Collection of Voyages, 

3 Vambery's Travels in Central vol. ii. p. 35. 



SAVAGE IDEAS ON DISEASE 26 

is iriaintained, of anatomy and of physiology, the true 
nature of disease does not occur to them. Thus the 
negroes universally believe that diseases are caused by 
evil spirits : ^ among the Kaffirs, ' diseases are all attri- 
' buted to three causes — either to being enchanted by an 
' enemy, to the anger of certain beings whose abode 
' appears to be in the rivers, or to the power of evil 
' spirits.' ^ So, again, in Guinea, the native doctors paint 
their patients different colours in honour of the spirit 
which is supposed to have caused the disease.^ In West 
Australia, for the same reason, it is the duty of the 
doctor to run round and round his patient, shouting as 
he goes, to keep away the evil spirit.^ 

Similar theories on the origin and nature of disease 
occur in various parts of the world, as, for instance, in 
Siberia, among the Kalmucks, the Kirghiz, and Bash- 
kirs ; ^ in many of the Indian tribes, as the Abors, 
Kacharis, Kols, &c. ; ^ in Ceylon ; ^ among the Karens ; ^ 
in the Andamans ; in the Samoan, Harvey, and other 
Pacific islands ; ^ in Madagascar, among the Caribs,^^ 
&c. The consequence of this is that cures are effected 
by ejecting or exorcising the evil spirit. Among the Kal- 
mucks, this is the business of the so-called ' Priests,' 

^ Pritcliard's Natural History of pp. 123, 169. 
Man, vol. ii. p, 704. "^ Dalton's Des. Etlmology of 

^ LichteDstein, toI. i. p. 255. Bengal, pp. 25, 85. 
Maclean's Kaffir Laws and Customs, "^ Saint-Hilaire, Le Boudha et sa 

p. 88. Eeligion, p. 387. 

^ Astlej's Collection of Voyages, ® The Karens of the Chersonese, 

voi.ii.p. 439. Cruickshank, Eighteen pp. 123, 354. 
Years on the Gold Coast, vol. ii- ^ Turner's Nineteen Years 

pp. 134, 144. Polynesia, p. 224. Gerland's Cont. 

* Forrest, Jour. Anthrop. Inst. of W^aitz's Anthrop. vol. vi. p. 682. 
vol. iii. p. 319. ^° Tylor's Primitive Culture, vol. 

^ Muller's Des. de toutes les Na- ii. p. 134. 
tions de I'Empire de Russie, part i. 



m 



26 SAVAGE IDEAS ON DISEASE 

who induce the evil spirit to quit the body of the patient 
and enter some other object. If a chief is ill, some 
other person is induced to take his name, and thus, as 
is supposed, ' the evil spirit passes into his body.' ■•• In 
Eome there was an altar dedicated to the Goddess 
Fever.^ Certain forms of disease, indeed, are now, and, 
as we know, have long been, regarded, even among the 
more advanced nations of the East, as caused by the 
presence of evil spirits. ' The Assyrians and Baby- 
lonians,' says the Rev. A. H. Sayce, 'like the Jews 
' of the Talmud, believed that the world was swarm- 
^ ing with obnoxious spirits who produced the various 
^ diseases to which man is liable.' ^ 

Many savage races do not believe in natural death, 
and if a man, however old, dies without being wounded, 
conclude that he must have been the victim of magic. 
Thus, then, when a savage is ill, he naturally attributes 
his suiFerings to some enemy within him, or to some 
foreign object, and the result is a peculiar system of 
treatment, curious both for its simplicity and uni- 
versality. 

' It is remarkable in the Abiponian (Paraguay) phy- 
* sicians,' says Father DobritzhofFer,^ ' that they cure 
' every kind of disease with one and the same medicine. 
' Let us examine this method of healing. They apply 
'their lips to the part affected, and suck it, spitting 
' after every suction. At intervals they blow upon that 

^ De Hell's Steppes of the Gas- vol. i, p. 131. 
plan Sea, p. 256. * History of the Abipones, vol. ii. 

2 Epictetus, trans, by Mrs. Carter, p. 249. See also Azara, Voy. dans 
vol. i. pp. 91, 104. I'Amer. Merid., vol. ii. pp. 25, 117, 

3 Kecords of the Past, pub. by 140, 142. 
the Society of Biblical Literature, 



MEDIGAL TBEATMENT AMONG SAVAGES 27 

'part of the body which is in pain. That blowing and 
' sucking are alternately repeated. . . . This method of 
' healing is in use amongst all the savages of Paraguay 
' and Brazil that I am acquainted with. . . . The 
' Abipones, still more irrational, expect sucking and 
* blowing to rid the body, of whatever causes pain or 
' inconvenience. This belief is constantly fostered by 
Hhe jugglers with fresh artifices; for when they pre - 
' pare to suck the sick man, they secretly put thorns, 
' beetles, worms, &c., into their mouths, and spitting 
' them out, after having sucked for some time, say to 
' him, pointing to the worm or thorn, " See here the 
' '' cause of your disorder." At this sight the sick man 
' revives, when he thinks the enemy that has tormented 
' him is at length expelled i' 

At first one might almost be disposed to think that 
some one had been amusing himself at the expense of 
the worthy father, but we shall find the very same mode 
of treatment among other races. Martins tells us that 
the cures of the Gruaycurus (Brazil) ' are very sunple, 
' and consist principally in fumigating or in sucking 
' the part afifected, on which the Paye spits into a pit, 
' as if he would give back the evil principle which he 
' has sucked out to the earth and bury it.' ^ 

In British Guiana, Mr. Brett mentions that, ' if the 
' sorcerer observes signs of recovery, he will pretend to 
' extract the cause of the complaint by sucking the part 
' afi'ected. After many ceremonies, he will produce from 
' his mouth some strange substance, such as a thorn or 
' gravel-stone, a fish bone or bird's claw, a snake's tooth 
' or a piece of wire, which some malicious yauhahu is 

^ Travels in Brazil, vol. ii. p. 77< 



28 MEDICAL TEEATMENT AMONG SAVAGES 

' supposed to have inserted in the affected part.' ^ The 
Mexican doctors pretend to extract a piece of bone or^ 
some other object, which they then indicate to the 
patient as having been the cause of his suffering.^ 

In North America, among the Carohna tribes, ' the 
' theory was that all distempers were caused by evil 
' spirits.' ° 

Father Baegert mentions that the Californian sor- 
cerers blow upon and suck those who are ill, and finally 
show them some small object, assuring them that it had 
been extracted, and that it was the cause of the pain. 
Wilkes thus describes a scene at Wallawalla, on the 
Columbia River : — ' The doctor, who was a woman, 
' bending over the body, began to suck his neck and 
' chest in different parts, in order more effectually to 
' extract the badsj)irit. She would every now and then 
^ seem to obtain some of the disease, and then faint 
' away. On the next morning she was still found suck- 
ling the boy's chest. . . . So powerful was the influence 
' operated on the boy that he indeed seemed better. , . . 
' The last time Mr. Drayton visited the doctress, she 
' exhibited a stone, about the size of a goose's egg, saying 
' that she had taken the disease of the boy out of him.' ^ 

Among the Prairie Indians, also, all diseases are 
treated alike, being referred to one cause, viz., the 
presence of an evil spirit, which must be expelled. 
This the medicine-man ' attempts, in the first place, by 
' certain incantations and ceremonies, intended to secure 

^ Brett's Indian Tribes of Guiana, Soutliern Indians, p. 31. 
p. 364. 4 United States Exploring Expe- 

^ Bancroft, Native Races of the dition, vol. iv. p. 400. See also 

Pacific States, vol. ii. p. 602. Jones's Antiquities of the Southern 

^ Jones's Antiquities of the Indians, pp. 29, 30. 



MEDICAL TREATMENT AMONG SAVAGES 29 

' the aid of the spirit or spirits he worships, and then 
' by all kinds of frightful noises and gestures, and suck- 
' ing over the seat of pain with his mouth.' ^ Speaking 
of the Hudson's Bay Indians, Hearne says : — ' Here it 
* is necessary to remark that they use no medicine either 
^ for internal or external complaints, but perform all 
' their cures by charms — in ordinary cases sucking the 
' part affected, blowing and singing/ ^ 

Again, in the extreme North, Crantz tells us that 
among the Esquimaux old women are accustomed ^ to 
' extract from a swollen leg a parcel of hair or scraps 
' of leather ; they do it by sucking with their mouth, 
' which they had before crammed full of such stuff.' ^ 
Passing on to the Laplanders, we are told that if any 
one among them is ill, a wizard sucks his forehead and 
blows in his face, thinking thus to cure him. Among 
the Tunguses the doctor sucks the forehead of his 
patient. 

In South Africa, Chapman thus describes a similar 
custom : — A man having been injured, he says, 'our 
' friend sucked at the wound, and then . . . extracted 
' from his mouth a lump of some substance, which wa& 
' supposed to be the disease.' ^ 

In New Zealand,^ each disease was regarded as 
being caused by a particular god ; thus ' Tonga was the 
' god who caused headache and sickness : he took up his 
' abode in the forehead. Mako-Tiki, a lizard god, was 

1 Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, vol. ^ Travels in Africa, vol. ii. p. 45. 
i. p. 250. See also Livingstone's Travels in 

2 Yojage to the Northern Ocean, South Africa, p. 130. 

p^ 189. ^ Taylor's New Zealand and 

3 History of Greenland, vol. i. its Inhabitants, p. 34. Shortland,. 
p. 14. P- 114. 



30 SAVAGE IDEAS ON THE CAUSES OF DISEASES 

' the source of all pains in the breast ; Tu-tangata-kino 
^ was the god of the stomach ; Titi-hai occasioned pains 
^ in the ankles and feet ; Rongomai and Tuparitapu 
' were the gods of consumption ; Koro-kio presided 
^ over childbirth.' 

' Sickness,' says Yate/ ' is brought on by the 
' " Atua," who, when he is angry, comes to them in 
' the form of a lizard, enters their inside, and preys 

* upon their vitals till they die. Hence they use incan- 
^ tations over the sick, with the expectation of either 
^ propitiating the angry deity or of driving him away ; 
' for the latter of which purposes they make use of 
^ the most threatening and outrageous language.' The 
Stiens of Cambodia believe ' in an evil genius, and 
' attribute all disease to him. If any one be suiFering 
' from illness, they say it is the demon tormenting 
' him ; and, with this idea, make, night and day, an 
^ insupportable noise around the patient.' ^ 

' Among the Bechuana tribes, the name adopted by 
^ the missionaries (for God) is Morimo. . . . Morimo, 
^ to those who know anything about it, had been 
' represented by rain-makers and , sorcerers as a male- 

* volent being which . . . sometimes came out and 
' inflicted diseases on men and cattle, and even caused 
' death.' The word did not at first convey to the 
' Bechuana mind the idea of a person or persons, but 
^ of a state or disease, or what superstition would style 
' bewitched. . . . They could not describe who or what 
^ Morimo was, except something cunning or mali- 
' cious. . . . They never applied the name to a human 



Yate's New Zealand, p. 141. 

Mouhot's Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China, vol. i. p. 250. 



_ SAVAGE IDEAS ON THE CAUSES OF DISEASES 31 

' being, except in the way of ridicule, or in adulation 
^ to those who taught his greatness, wisdom, and 

* power.' ^ 

The same idea occurs in Madagascar. Sibree gives 
the following account : — ' A woman of rank appointed 

* for the occasion began to dance, while another, seated 
' behind the sick persons, began to beat a worn-out 
^ spade, suspended by a string, with a hatchet, quite 
^ close to their ears, making a horrid din. The idea of 
^ this is to drive the angatra (evil spirit) possessing the 
^ sick person, into one of those dancing.' ^ 

* The good spirits of the departed, Azimo or Bazimo, 

* may be propitiated by medicines, or honoured by 
' offerings of beer or meal, or anything tbey loved while 
' in the body ; and the bad spirits, " Mchesi," of whom 
^ we have heard only at Litte, and therefore cannot be 
^ certain that they belong to the pure native faith, may 
^ be prevented by medicine from making raids, and mis- 
^ chief in the gardens. A man with headache was heard 
' to say, " My departed father is now scolding me ; I feel 
^ " his power in my head ; " and he was observed to re- 
^ move from the company, make an offering of a little 
^ food on a leaf, and pray, looking upwards, to where he 
' supposed his father's spirit to be. They are not, like 

* Mohammedans, ostentatious in their prayers.' ^ 

The Koussa Kaffirs,^ says Lichtenstein, ascribe all 
their diseases ' to one of three causes : either to being 
' enchanted by an enemy ; to the anger of certain beings, 
^ whose abode appears to be in the rivers ; or to the 
^ power of evil spirits.' Among the Kols of JN'agpore, 

1 Moffat's Trayels, p. 260. ^ Livingstone, toI. ii. p. 520. 

" Folk Lore Record, vol. ii. p. 46. ^ Lichtenstein, vol. ii. p. 255. 



32 SUCKING OUT THE EVIL 

as Colonel E. T. Dalton tells us, ' all disease in men 
' and in cattle is attributed to one of two causes : the 
' wrath of some evil spirit who has to be appeased, 
* or the spell of some witch or sorcerer.' ^ The same 
is the case with the Cinghalese,^ and indeed with the 
aboriginal races of India generally. 

In Australia, we are told by ex-Governor Eyre, in 
his interesting work, that, ' as all internal pains are 
' attributed to witchcraft, sorcerers possess the power 
' of relieving or curing them. Sometimes the mouth is 
' applied to the surface where the pain is seated, the 
' blood is sucked out, and a bunch of green leaves 
' applied to the part. Besides the blood, which is 
' derived from the gums of the sorcerer, a bone is some- 
' times put out of the mouth, and declared to have been 
' procured from the diseased part. On other occasions 
' the disease is drawn out in an invisible form, and 
' burnt in the fire or thrown into the water.' ^ 

Thus, then, we find all over the world this primitive 
cure by sucking out the evil, which perhaps even with 
ourselves lingers among nurses and children in the 
universal nursery remedy of ' Kiss it and make it well.' 

These misconceptions of the true nature of disease 
lead to many other singular modes of treatment. Thus, 
among the Kukis, the doctor, not the patient, takes the 
remedies. Consequently, food is generally prescribed, 
and in cases of severe illness a bufirilo is sacrificed, and 
the doctor gives a feast.^ 

1 Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., 1868, Trans. Etlm. Soc, N.S., vol. iii. 
p. 30. p. 243. 

2 St.-Hilaire, Boudlia, p. 387. * Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 

3 Discoveries in Central Australia, p. 46. 
vol. ii. p. 360. See also Oldfield, 



LIFE ATTRIBUTED TO INANIMATE OBJECTS 33 

Another curious remedy practised by the Austra- 
lians is to tie a line round the forehead or neck of the 
patient, while some kind friend rubs her lips with the 
* other end of the string until they bleed freely ; this 
' blood is supposed to come from the patient, passing 
^ along the string.' ^ It naturally follows from this, 
and is, as will be presently shown, the belief of many of 
the lower races of men, that death also is the work of 
vile spirits. 

Some curious ideas prevalent among savages arise 
from the fact that as their own actions are due to life, 
so they attribute life even to inanimate objects. Even 
Plato assumed that everything which moves itself must 
have a soul, and hence that the world must have a soul. 
Heame tells us that the^N^orth American Indians pre- 
fer one hook that has caught a big fish to a handful 
that have never been tried ; and that they never put 
two nets together for fear they should be jealous of one 
another.^ 

The Esquimaux thought that Captain Lyons 's 
musical box was the child of his small hand-organ.^ 

The Bushmen supposed that Chapman's big waggon 
was the mother of his smaller ones ; they ' despise an 
' arrow that has once failed of its mark ; and on the 
' contrary consider one that has hit as of double value. 
' They will, therefore, rather make new arrows, how 
' much time and trouble soever it may cost them, than 
' collect those that have missed, and use them again.' * 
In Mangaia Mr. Gill informs me that a club or spear 

^ English Colony in New South ^ Lyons's Journal, p. 140. 

Wales, pp. 363, 382, ^ Lichtenstein's Travels in South 

2 Loc. cit. p. 330. Africa, vol. ii. p. 271 . 

D 



34 KILLING INANIMATE OBJECTS 

which has not taken human life is not considered fit to 
go into battle. Hence many an unoffending person is 
murdered merely to qualify some weapon for use in war. 

The natives of Tahiti sowed some iron nails given 
them by Captain Cook, hoping thus to obtain young 
ones. They also believe that ' not only all animals, but 
' trees, fruit, and even stones, have souls, which at death, 
' or upon being consumed or broken, ascend to the divi- 
' nity, with whom they first mix, and afterwards pass 
' into the mansion allotted to each.' 

The Tongans were of opinion that ' if an animal 
' dies,"^ its soul immediately goes to Bolotoo ; if a stone 
' or any other substance is broken, immortality is equally 
^ its reward ; nay, artificial bodies have equal good luck 

* with men, and hogs, and yams. If an axe or a chisel 
^ is worn out or broken up, away flies its soul for the 

* service of the gods. If a house is taken down or any 
' way destroyed, its immortal part will find a situation 
^ on the plains of Bolotoo.' Hence probably the custom 
of breaking the implements, &c., buried with the dead. 
This was done to render them useless, for the savage 
would not dream of violating the sanctity of the tomb ; 
but because the implements required to be 'killed,' so 
that their spirits, like those of the wives and slaves, 
might accompany their master to the land of shadows. 

Lichtenstein relates that the king of the Koussa 
Kaffirs, having broken off a piece of the anchor of a 
stranded ship, died soon afterwards ; upon which all 
the Kaffirs made a point of saluting the anchor very 
respectfully whenever they passed near it, regarding it 
as a vindictive being. 

^ Mariner's Tonga Islands, vol. ii. p. 137. 



SALUTATIONS 35 

Some similar accident probabl}^ gave rise to the 
ancient Mohawk notion that some great misfortune 
would happen if any one spoke on Saratoga Lake. A 
strong-minded Englishwoman, on one occasion, while 
being ferried over, insisted on talking, and, as she got 
across safely, rallied her boatman on his superstition ; 
but I think he had the best of it after all, for he at once 
replied, ' The Great Spirit is merciful, and knows that a 
^ white woman cannot hold her tongue.' ^ 

The forms of Salutation among savages are some- 
times very curious, and their modes of showing their 
feelings quite unlike ours, though they can generally be 
explained without difficulty. Kissing appears to us to 
be the natural lano-uao-e of affection. ' It is certain,' 
says Steele, ' that nature was its author, and it began 
^ with the first courtship ; ' but this seems to be quite a 
mistake. In fact, it was unknown to the Australians, 
the Papouans, the Indians of Guiana, and the Esqui- 
maux. The Polynesians did not kiss ; they pressed not 
the lips, but the nose. The African negroes, we are 
told, do not like it, otherwise I should have thought 
that, when once discovered, it would have been uni- 
versally popular. The New Zealanders, and the Hervey 
Islanders did not know how to whistle ; ^ the West 
Africans do not shake hands ; ^ the Batonga (one of the 
tribes residing on the Zambesi) salute their friends by 
throwing themselves on their backs on the ground, 
rolling from side to side, and slapping their thighs with 
their hands. ^ 

^ Burton's Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. ^ Burton's Mission to Dahome, 

198. vol. i. p. 36. 

^ Traditions of the New Zea- '^ Livingstone's Travels in South 

landers, p. 131. Africa, p. 551. 

D 2 



36 SALUTATIONS 

Clapping of hands is a high mark of respect in 
Loango, and occurs also in various other negro tribes ^ 
the Dahomans and some of the coast negroes snap 
their fingers at a person as a compliment. In Loango 
courtiers salute the king by leaping backwards and 
forwards two or three times, and swinging their arms. 
The Fuegians show friendship by jumping up and down,, 
and amongst ourselves 'jumping for joy' has become 
proverbial. 

The Bakaa, one of the Zambesi tribes, have a 
peculiar prejudice against children who cut the upper 
front teeth before the lower ones ; and ' you cut your 
' top teeth first ' is one of the bitterest insults a man 
can receive.^ I understand that among English nurses 
also it is considered to indicate a weakly constitution. 

The Polynesians and the Malays always sit down 
when speaking to a superior ; a Chinaman puts on his 
hat instead of taking it oif. Cook asserts that the 
people of Mallicollo show their admiration by hissings 
and the same is the case, according to Casalis, among 
the Kafiirs.^ In some of the Pacific Islands, in parts 
of Hindostan ^ and some parts of Africa, it is considered 
respectful to turn your back to a superior. In the 
Hervey Islands the head is thrown back, instead of for- 
wards, as a salutation. Doughty ^ tells us that in Arabia, 
if a beast is ill, they spit into water and then give it to the 
animal to drink. Parents also often ask their children 
to spit at them. He is disposed to consider that this 
is done as a protection against evil spirits, but does not 

^ Livingstone, loc. cit. p. 577. ^ Diilaois, loc cit. p. 210. 

^ The BasutoS; by the Kev. E. ^ Travels in Arabia Desert a, by 

Casalis, p. 234. C. M. Doughty, vol. ii. p. 164. 



SALUTATIONS 37 

:seem very clear on the subject. Some of the New 
Guinea tribes salute a friend by squeezing their own 
noses ; ^ on the White Nile,^ in Masai-land, and in 
Ashantee they spit at you,^ and the people of Iddah 
shake their fist as a friendly greeting.^ The Todas of 
the Neilgherry Hills are said to show respect by ' raising 
' the open right hand to the brow, resting the thumb on 
' the nose ; ' on the upper Nile, Dr. Schweinfurth tells 
us^ that the mode of showing admiration is to open 
the mouth wide, and then cover it with the open hand ; 
and it has been asserted that in one tribe of Esquimaux 
it is customary to pull a person's nose as a compliment, 
though it is but right to say that Dr. Rae thinks there 
was some mistake on the point ; on the other hand, Dr. 
Blackmore mentions that 'the sign of the Arapahoes, 
' and from which they derive their name,' consists in 
-seizing the nose with the thumb and forefinger.^ 

It is asserted that in China a coffin is regarded as 
an appropriate present for an aged relative, especially if 
he be in bad health. 

^ Oomrie, Jour. Anthr. Inst. * Allen and Thomson, vol. i. 

1876, p. 108. p. 290. 

2 Petherick, pp. 424, 441. ^ Heart of Africa, vol. ii. p. 77. 
.Schweinfurtli, vol. i. p. 204. « Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1869, p. 310. 

3 Dupnis, p. 178. 



38 ART AS AN 



CHAPTEE 11. 

AET AND OKNAMENTS. 

THE earliest traces of art yet discovered belong to the 
Stone Age — to a time so remote that the reindeer 
was abundant in the south of France, and that probably, 
though on this point there is some doubt, even the 
mammoth had not entirely disappeared. These works 
of art are sometimes sculptures, if one may say so, and 
sometimes drawings or etchings made on bone or horn 
with the point of a flint. 

They are of peculiar interest, both as being the most 
ancient works of art known to us — older than any Egyp- 
tian statues," or any of the Assyrian monuments — and 
also because, though so ancient, they show really con- 
siderable skill. There is, for instance, a certain spirit 
about the subjoined group of reindeer (fig. 1), copied 
from a specimen in the collection of the Marquis de 
Yibraye. The mammoth (PI. I.) represented on the 
opposite page, though less artistic, is perhaps even more 
interesting. It is scratched on a piece of mammoth's 
tusk, and was found in the cave of La Madeleine in the 
Dordogne. 

It is somewhat remarkable that while even in the 
Stone Period we find very fair drawings of animals, yet 
in the latest part of the Stone Age, and throughout that 
of Bronze, they are almost entirely wanting, and the 



>c--<'^^ 




JETHNOLOGIGAL GHABACTUB 39 

ornamentation is confined to various combinations of 
straight and curved lines and geometrical patterns. 
This, I believe, will eventually be found to imply a 
difference of race between the population of Western 
Europe at these different periods. Thus at present the 
Esquimaux (see figs. 2-4) are very fair draughtsmen, 
while the Polynesians, though much more advanced in 
many ways, and though skilful in ornamenting both 
themselves and their weapons, have very little idea 




GKOUr OP KEINDEEil 



indeed of representing animals or plants. Their tattoo- 
ings, for instance, and the patterns on their weapons, 
are, like the ornaments of the Bronze Age, almost in- 
variably of a geometrical character. Representations 
of animals and plants are not, indeed, entirely wanting ; 
but, whether attempted in drawing or in sculpture, they 
are always rude and grotesque. With the Esquimaux 
the very reverse is the case : among them we find none 
of those graceful spirals, and other geometrical patterns, 



4P ABT AS AN 

SO characteristic of Polynesia ; but, on the other hand, 
their weapons are often covered with representations 
of animals and hunting scenes. Thus Beechey,^ de- 
scribing the weapons of the Esquimaux at Hotham's 
Inlet, says : — 

' On the outside of this and other instruments there 
^ were etched a variety of figures of men, beasts, birds, 
' &c., with a truth and a character which showed the 
' art to be common among them. The reindeer were 

* generally in herds ; in one picture they were pursued 
' by a man in a stooping posture, in snow-shoes ; in 

* another he had approached nearer to his game, and 
^ was in the act of drawing his bow. A third repre- 
^ sen ted the manner of taking seals with an inflated skin 
^ of the same animal as a decoy ; it was placed upon the 
' ice, and not far from it was a man lying upon his 
' belly, with a harpoon ready to strike the animal when 
' it should make its appearance. Another was dragging 

* a seal home upon a small sledge ; and several baidars 
^ were employed harpooning whales which had been 

* previously shot with arrows ; and thus, by comparing 
' one with another, a little history was obtained which 
' gave us a better insight into their habits than could be 
' elicited from any signs or intimations.' Some of these 
drawings are represented in figs. 2-4, which are taken 
from specimens presented by Captain Beechey to the 
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. 

Hooper^ also mentions drawings among the Tuski, 
especially ' a sealskin tanned and bleached perfectly 
' white, ornamented all over in painting and staining 

^ Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific. yoI. i. p. 251. 
2 Tents of the Tuski, p. 65. 



ETHNOLOGICAL CEAEACTEB 



43 




42 ART AS AN ETHNOLOGICAL GHABAGTEB 

' with figures of men, boats, animals, and delineations of 
' wliale-fishing, &c.' 

In the same way we may, I think, fairly hope even- 
tually to obtain from the ancient drawings of the bone 
caves a better insight into the habits of our predeces- 
sors in Western Europe ; to ascertain, for instance, 
whether their reindeer were domesticated or wild. As 
yet, however, mere representations of animals have been 
met with, and nothing has been found to supplement 
in any way the evidence derivable from the imple- 
ments, &c. 

But though we thus find traces of art — simple, in- 
deed, but by no means contemptible — in very ancient 
times, and among very savage tribes, there are also 
other races who are singularly deficient in this respect. 

Thus, though some Australians are capable of mak- 
ing rude drawings of animals, &c., others, on the con- 
trary, as Oldfield ^ tells us, ' seem quite unable to 
' realise the most vivid artistic representations. On 
' being shown a large coloured engraving of an abo- 
' riginal New Hollander, one declared it to be a ship, 
^ another a kangaroo, and so on ; not one of a dozen 
' identifying the portrait as having any connection with 
' himself. A rude drawing, with all the lesser parts 
' much exaggerated, they can realise. Thus, to give 
' them an idea of a man, the head must be drawn dis- 
' proportionately large.' 

Dr. CoUingwood,^ speaking of the Kibalans of For- 
' mosa, to whom he showed a copy of the ' Illustrated 
* London News,' tells us that he found it ' impossible 

1 Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. iii. p. 227. 
- Ibid. vol. vi. p. 139. 



ABT IN AFBIGA 43 

' to interest them by pointing out the most striking 
' illustrations, which they did not appear to compre- 
' hend; 

Denham in his ' Travels in Central Africa,' says 
that Bookhaloom, a man otherwise of considerable in- 
telligence, though he readily recognised figures, could 
not understand a landscape. ' I could not,' he says, 
^ make him understand the intention of the print of the 
' sand wind in the desert, which is really so well described 
' by Captain Lyons's drawing ; he would look at it up- 
' side down ; and when I twice reversed it for him he 
' exclaimed 5 *' Why ! why ! it is all the same." A 
' camel or a human figure was all I could make him 
*" understand, and at these he was all agitation and 
' delight — " Gieb ! gieb ! " — Wonderful ! wonderful ! 
' The eyes first took his attention, then the other 
' features ; at the sight of the sword he exclaimed, 
' " Allah ! Allah ! " and on discovering the guns, 
' instantly exclaimed, " Where is the powder ? " ' ^ 

So also the Kaffir has great difiiculty in understand- 
ing drawings, and perspective is altogether beyond him. 
Central and Southern Africa seem, indeed, to be very 
backward in matters of art. Still, the negroes are not 
altogether deficient in the idea. Their idols cannot be 
called, indeed, works of art, but they often not only 
represent men, but give some of the African character- 
istics with grotesque fidelity. 

The Kaffirs also can carve fair representations of 
animals and plants, and are fond of doing so. The 
handles of their spoons are often shaped into unmistak- 
able likenesses of girafi*es, ostriches, and other animals. 

1 Denham's Travels in Africa, vol. i. p. 167. 



44 THE QUIPPU 

As to the Bushmen, we have rather different ac- 
counts. It has been stated by some that they have 
no idea of perspective, nor of how a curved surface can 
possibly be represented on a fiat piece of paper ; while, 
on the contrary, other travellers assert that they readily 
recognise drawings of animals or flowers. The Chinese, 
although so advanced in many ways, are, we know, 
very deficient in the idea of perspective. 

We may safely conclude that no race of men in the 
Stone Age had attained the art of communicating facts 
by means of letters, or even by the far ruder system of 
picture-writing ; nor does anything, perhaps, surprise 
the savage more than to find that Europeans can com- 
municate with one another by means of a few black 
scratches on a piece of paper. 

Even the Peruvians had no better means of record- 
ing events than the Quippu or Quipu, which was a cord 
about two feet long, to which a number of different 
coloured threads were attached in the form of a fringe. 
These threads were tied into knots, whence the name 
Quippu, meaning a knot. These knots served as cyphers, 
and the various threads had also conventional meanings 
attached to them, indicated by the various colours. 
This singular and apparently very cumbersome mode of 
assisting the memory reappears in China and in Africa. 
Thus, ' As to -^ the original of the Chinese characters, 
' before the commencement of the monarchy, little cords 
' with sliding knots, each of which had its particular 
' signification, were used in transacting business. These 
' are represented in two tables by the Chinese, called 
' Hotu, and Lo-shu. The first colonies who inhabited 

^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, vol. iv. p. 194. 






PIOTUBE-WBITING 45 

' Sechicen had no other literature besides some arith- 
' metical sets of counters made with little knotted cords 
^ in imitation of a string of round beads, with which 
^ they calculated and made up all their accounts in com- 
' merce.' Again, in West Africa, we are told that the 
people of Ardrah ^ ' can neither write nor read. They 
' use small cords tied, the knots of which have their 
' signification. These are also used by several savage 
' nations in America.' It seems not impossible that 
tying a knot in a pocket-handkerchief may be the direct 
lineal representative of this ancient and widely-extended 
mode of assisting the memory. 

The so-called picture-writing is, however, a great 
advance. Yet from representations of hunts in general, 
such as those of the Esquimaux (see figs. 2-4), it is 
indeed but a step to record pictorially some particular 
hunt. Again, the Esquimaux almost always places his 
mark on his arrows, but I am not aware that any Poly- 
nesian ever conceived the idea of doing so. Thus we 
get among the Esquimaux a double commencement, as 
it were, for the representation of ideas by means of 
signs. 

This art of pictorial writing was still more advanced 
among the Eed Skins. Thus Carver tells us that on 
one occasion his Chipeway guide, fearing that the Nau- 
dowessies, a hostile tribe, might accidentally fall in with 
and attack them, ' peeled the bark from a large tree near 
' the entrance of a river, and with wood- coal mixed with 
' bear's grease, their usual substitute for ink, made in an 
' uncouth but expressive manner the figure of the town of 
' the Ottagaumies. He then formed to the left a man 

^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. p. 71. 



46 PIOTURE.WBITING 

' dressed in skins, by which he intended to represent a 
'- Naudowessie, with a line drawn from his mouth to that 
' of a deer, the symbol of the Chipeways. After this he 
' depicted still farther to the left a canoe as proceeding 
^ up the river, in which he placed a man sitting with 
' a hat on ; this figure was designed to represent an 
^ Englishman, or myself, and my Frenchman was drawn 
^ with a handkerchief tied round his head, and rowing 
' the canoe ; to these he added several other significant 
' emblems, among which the pipe of peace appeared 
' painted on the prow of the canoe. The meaning he 
^ intended to convey to the Naudowessies, and which I 
' doubt not appeared perfectly intelligible to them, was 
' that one of the Chipeway chiefs had received a speech 
' from some Naudowessie chiefs at the town of the Otta- 
' gaumies, desiring him to conduct the Englishman, who 
^ had lately been among them, up the Chipeway river ; 
' and that they thereby required that the Chipeway, 
' notwithstanding he was an avowed enemy, should 
' not be molested by them on his passage, as he had the 
' care of the person whom they esteemed as one of their 
' nation.' ^ 

An excellent account of the Red Skin pictorial art 
is given by Schoolcraft in his ' History of the Indian 
' Tribes in the United States.' 

Fig. 5 represents the census-roll of an Indian band 
at Mille Lac, in the territory of Minnesota, sent in to 
the United States agent by Nago-nabe, a Chipeway 
Indian, during the progress of the annuity payments in 
1849. The Indians generally denote themselves by their 
' totem,' or family sign ; but in this case, as they all had 
^ Carver's Travels, p. 418. 



INDIAN CENSUS-nOLL 



47 



II 



Fie. 5 




mill 




(1 




13 




^- 



20 




10 



II 



I I 



I 1 



I I 






I I 



23 



•26 




C) 



28 





32 




"C) 



34 



II 



INDIA2^ CEI^SUS-EOLL 



48 



INDIAN TOMBSTONES 



the same totem, he had designated each family by a sign 
denoting the common name of the chief. Thus number 
5 denotes a catfish, and the six strokes indicate that 
the Catfish's family consisted of six individuals ; 8 is a 
beaver skin, 9 a sun, 13 an eagle, 14 a snake, 22 a 
buiFalo, 34 an axe, 35 the medicine-man, and so on. 



Fig. 6 



Fig. 7 





IN-DIAN GKAVE-POSTS (Schoolcraft, vol. i. pi. 60) 

Fig. 6 is the record of a noted chief of the St. Mary's 
band, called Shin-ga-ba-was-sin, or the Image-stone, who 
died on Lake Superior in 1828. He was of the totem 
of the crane, as indicated by the figure. The six strokes 
on the right, and the three on the left, are marks of 
honour. The latter represent three important general 
treaties of peace in which he had taken part at various 
times.^ Among the former marks are included his 



^ Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, vol. i. p. 357. 



FIGTUEE- WRITING 



49 



Fie. 8 



presence under Tecumseh, at the battle of Moravian- 
town, where he lost a brother. 

Fig. 7 represents the adjedatig, or tomb-board, of 
Wabojeeg, a celebrated 
war-chief, who died on 
Lake Superior, about 
1793. He was of the 
family or clan of the 
reindeer. This fact is 
symbolised by the 
figure of the deer. 
The reverse position 
denotes death. His 
own personal name, 
which was the White 
Fisher, is not noticed. 
The seven marks on 
the left denote that 
he had led seven war 
parties. The three per- 
pendicular lines below 
the totem represent 
three wounds received 
in battle. The figure 
of a moose's head re- 
lates to a desperate 
conflict with an en- 
raged animal of this 
kind. Fig. 8 is copied 
from a bark letter 

which was found above St. Anthony's Falls in 1820. 
' It consisted of white birch bark, and the figures had 

E 




50 PIGTUBE'WBITING IN JSfOETH AMERICA 

' been carefully drawn. H^o. 1 denotes the flag of tlie 
* Union : No. 2 the cantonment, then recently established, 
' at Cold Spring, on the western side of the cliffs, above 
' the influx of the St. Peters : No. 4 is the symbol of the 
' (Commanding oflicer (Colonel H. Leavenworth), under 
^ w^hose authority a mission of peace had been sent into 
^ the Chippewa country : No. 11 is the symbol of 
^ Chakope, or the Six, the leading Sioux chief, under 
' whose orders the party moved : No. 8 is the second 
' chief, called Wabedatunka, or the Black Dog. The 
' symbol of his name is No. 10 ; he has fourteen lodges. 
^ No. 7 is a chief, subordinate to Chakope, with thirteen 
' lodges, and a bale of goods (No. 9), which was devoted 
' by the Government to the objects of the peace. The 
^ name of No. 6, whose wigwam is No. 5, with thirteen 
^ subordinate lodges, was not given.' ^ 

This was intended to imply that a party of Sioux, 
headed by Chakope, and accompanied or at least coun- 
tenanced by Colonel Leavenworth, had come to this spot 
in the hope of meeting the Chippewa hunters and con- 
cluding a peace. The Chippewa chief, Babesacundabee, 
who found this letter, read off its meaning without 
doubt or hesitation. 

On one occasion a party of explorers, with two 
Indian guides, saw, one morning, just as they were 
about to start, a pole stuck in the direction they were 
going, and holding at the top a piece of bark, covered 
with drawings, intended for the information of any other 
Indians who might pass that way. This is represented 
in fig. 9. 

No. 1 represents the subaltern officer in command 

1 Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, vol. i. pp. 352, 353. 



INDIAN BARK LETTER 



51 



of tlie party. He is drawn with a sword, to denote his 
rank. No. 2 denotes the secretary. He is represented 
as holding a book, the Indians having understood him 
to be an attorney. No. 3 represents the geologist, ap- 
propriately indicated by a hammer. Nos. 4 and 5 are 
attaches ; No. 6 the interpreter. The group of figures 
marked 9 represents seven infantry soldiers, each of 
whom, as shown in group No. 10, was armed with a 
musket. No. 15 denotes that they had a separate fire, 
and constituted a separate mess. Figs. 7 and 8 repre- 
sent the two Chippewa guides. These are the only 

Fig. 9 




v: 



iffiflfflr^ 






INDIAN BAKE LETTER 



human figures drawn without the distinguishing symbol 
of a hat. This was the characteristic seized on by them, 
and generally employed by the Indians, to distinguish 
the Red from the White race. Figs. 11 and 12 repre- 
sent a prairie hen and a green tortoise, which constituted 
the sum of the preceding day's chase, and were eaten at 
the encampment. The inclination of the pole was de- 
signed to show the course pursued, and there were three 
hacks in it below the scroll of bark, to indicate the esti- 
mated length of this part of the journey, computing from 
water to water. The following figure (fig. 10) gives 
the biography of Wingemund, a noted chief of the 

E 2 



52 



INDIAN JBIOGBAPEY 



Delawares. 1 shows that it belonged to the oldest branch 
of the tribe, which use the tortoise as their symbol ; 2 
is his totem or symbol ; 3 is the sun, and the ten strokes 
represent ten war parties in which he was engaged. 
Those figures on the left represent the captives which 
he made in each of his excursions, the men being distin- 
guished from the women, and the captives being denoted 
by having heads, while a man without his head is of 
course a dead man. The central figures represent three 

Fi&. 10 




INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 



forts which he attacked ; 8 one on Lake Erie, 9 that of 
Detroit, and 10 Fort Pitt, at the junction of the Alle- 
ghany and the Monongahela. The sloping strokes denote 
the number of his followers.^ 

Fig. 1 1 represents a petition presented to the Presi- 
dent of the United States for the right to certain lakes 
(8) in the neighbourhood of Lake Superior (10). 

No. 1 represents Oshcabawis, the leader, who is of 

^ Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 353. 



INDIAN PETITION 



53 




54 8AVAGE 0ENAMENT8 

the Crane clan. The eyes of his followers are all con- 
nected with his to symbolise unity of views, and their 
hearts to denote unity of feeling. No. 2 is Wai-mit-tig- 
oazh, whose totem is a marten ; No. 3 is Ogemagee- 
zhig, also a marten ; 4 is another marten, Muk-o-mis-ud- 
ains, the Little Tortoise ; 5 is 0-mush-kose, the Little 
Elk, belonging, however, to the Bear totem ; 6 belongs 
to the Manfish totem, and 7 to the Catfish. The eye of 
the leader has a line directed forwards to the President, 
and another backwards to the lakes (8). 

The manner in which such picture-writing would 
ultimately have led to the use of an alphabet, would 
probably have been that the drawings would have come 
to represent, first a word, and then a sound, being at 
the same time simplified and conventionalised. 

In some places of Western Europe, rock sculptures 
have been discovered, to which we cannot yet safely 
ascribe any meaning, but on which perhaps the more 
complete study of the picture-writing of modern savages 
may eventually throw some light. 

We will now pass to art as applied to the purposes 
of personal decoration. Savages are passionately fond 
of ornaments. In some of the very lowest races, indeed, 
the women are almost undecorated, but that is only be- 
cause the men keep all the ornaments themselves. As 
a general rule, we may say that Southerners ornament 
themselves, Northerners their clothes. In fact, all savage 
races who leave much of their skin uncovered delight 
in painting themselves in the most brilliant colours 
they can obtain. Black, w^hite, red, and yellow are 
the favourite, or rather, perhaps, the commonest colours. 
Although perfectly naked, the Australians of Botany 



SAVAG:E 0BNAMENT8 55 

Bay were by no means without ornaments. Tliey 
painted themselves with red ochre, white clay, and 
charcoal ; the red was laid on in broad patches, the 
white generally in stripes, or on the face in spots, often 
with a circle round each eye ; ^ through the septum of 
the nose they wore a bone as thick as a man's finger and 
five or six inches long. This was of course very awk- 
ward, as it prevented them from breathing freely through 
the nose, but they submitted cheerfully to the incon- 
venience for the sake of appearance. 4ir 

They had also necklaces made of shells, neatly cut 
and strung together ; earrings, bracelets of small cord, 
and strings of plaited human hair, which they wound 
round their waists. Some also had gorgets of large 
shells hanging from the neck across the breast. On all 
these things they placed a high value. 

Spix and Martins ^ thus describe the ornaments of a 
Coroado woman : — ' On the cheek she had a circle, and 
' over that two strokes ; under the nose several marks 
' resembling an M ; from the corners of the mouth to 
' the middle of the cheek were two parallel lines, and 
' below them on both sides many straight stripes ; 
' below and between her breasts there were some con- 
' nected segments of circles, and down her arms the 
' figure of a snake was depicted. This beauty wore no 
' ornaments, except a necklace of monkeys' teeth.' 

In Tanna ' one would have the one half of his face 
' smeared with red clay, and the other the plain dark 
' copper skin ; another would have the brow and cheeks 
' red ; another would have the brow red and cheeks 

^ Hawkesworth's Voyages, vol. iii. p. 635. 
^ Travels in Brazil, vol. ii. p. 224. 



56 SAVAGE ORNAMENTS 

' black ; another all the face red, and a round, black, 
^ glittering spot on the forehead ; and another would 

* have his face black all over. The black all over, by the 
' way, was the sign of mourning.' ^ 

The savage also wears necklaces and rings, bracelets 
and anklets, armlets and legiets — even, if I may say so, 
bodylets. Round their bodies, round their necks, 
round their arms and legs, their fingers, and even their 
toes, they wear ornaments of all kinds. From their 
number and weight these must sometimes be very 
inconvenient. Lichtenstem saw the wife of a Beetuan 
chief wearing no less than seventy-two brass rings. 

A South African chieftainess, visited by Living- 
stone,^ wore ' eighteen solid brass rings, as thick as 
' one's finger, on each leg, and three of copper under 

* each knee ; nineteen brass rings on her left arm, and 
' eight of brass and copper on her right ; also a large 
' ivory ring above each elbow. She had a pretty bead 
^ necklace, and a bead sash encircled her waist.' 

Nor are they particular as to the material : copper, 
brass, or iron, leather or ivory, stones, shells, glass, bits 
of wood, seeds, or teeth — nothing comes amiss. In 
South-East Island, one of the Louisiade Archipelago, 
M'Grillivray even saw several bracelets made each of a 
lower human jaw, crossed by a collar bone ; and other 
travellers have seen brass curtain rings, the brass plates 
for keyholes, the lids of sardine cases, and other such 
incongruous objects, worn with much gravity and 
pride. 

The Felatah ladies in Central Africa spend several 

^ Turner's Nineteen Years in Polynesia, p. 5. 
~ Exp. to the Zambesi, p. 284. 



CHEEK STUDS— LABBETS 57 

hours a day over tlieir toilet. In fact they begin over- 
night by carefully wrapping their fingers and toes in 
henna leaves, so that by morning they are a rich 
purple. The teeth are stained alternately blue, yellow, 
and purple, one here and there being left of its natural 
colour, as a contrast. About the eyelids they are very 
particular ; pencilling them with sulphuret of antimony. 
The hair is coloured carefully with indigo. Studs and 
other jewellery are worn in great profusion.^ 

Not content with hanging things round their necks, 
arms, ankles, and in fact wherever nature has enabled 
them to do so, savages also cut holes in themselves for 
the purpose. 

The Esquimaux from Mackenzie River westward 
make two openings in their cheeks, one on each side, 
which they gradually enlarge, and in which they wear 
an ornament of stone resembling in form a large stud, 
and which may therefore be called a cheek stud. 
Brenchley saw the natives of the Solomon Islands 
decorated by crabs' claws stuck in the cartilage of the 
nose.^ 

Throughout a great part of Western America, and 
again in Africa, we also find the custom of wearing a 
piece of wood through the central part of the lower lip. 
A small hole is made in the lip during infancy, and it is 
then extended by degrees until it is sometimes as much 
as two inches long. Some races extend the lobe of the 
ear until it reaches the shoulder ; others file the teeth in 
various manners. 

Thus, among the Rejangs of Sumatra, ' both sexes 

^ Laird's Expedition into the Interior of Africa, vol. ii. p. 94. 
^ Cruise of the 'Curacoa,' p. 250. 



58 OBNAMENTATION OF THE SKIN 

^ have the extraordinary custom of filing and otherwise 
' disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white 
' and beautiful, from the simplicity of their food. For 
^ files they make use of small whetstones of different 
^ degrees of fineness, and the patients lie on their backs 

* during the operation. Many, particularly women of 

* the Lampong country, have their teeth rubbed down 
^ quite even with the gums ; others have them formed 
^ in points, and some file off no more than the outer 
' coat and extremities, in order that they may the 
^ better receive and retain the jetty blackness with 
' which they almost universally adorn them.' ^ 

In Dr. Davis's collection is a Dyak skull in which the 
six front teeth have each been carefully pierced with a 
small hole, into which a pin with a spherical brass head 
has been driven. In this way, the upper lip being 
raised, the shining knob on each tooth would be dis- 
played.^ Some of the African tribes also chip their 
teeth in various manners, each community having a 
fashion of its own. 

Ornamentation of the skin is almost universal among 
the lower races of men. In some cases every individual 
follows his own fancy ; in others, each clan has a special 
pattern. Thus, speaking of Abeokuta, Captain Burton ^ 
says : — ' There was a variety of tattoos and orna- 
mentation, rendering them a serious difiiculty to 
strangers. The skin patterns were of every variety, 
from the diminutive prick to the great gash and the 
large boil-like lumps. They affected various figures 
— tortoises, alligators, and the favourite hzard, stars, 

1 Marsden's History of Sumatra, ^ Thesaurus Craniorum, p. 289. 

p. 52. 3 Abeokuta, vol. i. p. 104. 



TRIBE MABK8 69 

* concentric circle, lozenges, right lines, welts, gouts of 
' gore, marble or button-like knobs of flesli, and ele- 
' vated scars, resembling scalds, which are opened for 
' the introduction of fetish medicines, and to €xpel evil 
' influences. In this country every tribe, sub -tribe, and 
^ even family, has its blazon,^ whose infinite diversifica- 
^ tions may be compared with the lines and ordinaries 

* of European heraldry.' 

' The Ardrahs ^ make an incision in each cheek, 
' turning up a part of the flesh towards the ears and 
^healing it in that position. The Mahees are distin- 
' guished by three long oblique cuts on one cheek, and a 
' cross on the other.' 

In South Africa the Nyambanas are characterised by 
a row of pimples or warts, about the size of a pea, and 
extending from the upper part of the forehead to the 
tip of the nose. Among the Bachapin Kaffirs, those who 
have distinguished themselves in battle are allowed the 
privilege of marking their thigh with a long scar, which 
is rendered indelible and of a bluish colour by rubbing 
ashes into the fresh wound. 

The tribal mark of the Bunns^ (Africa) consists of 
three slashes from the crown of the head down the 
face toward the mouth ; the ridges of flesh stand out 
in bold relief. This painful operation is performed by 
cutting the skin, and taking out a strip of flesh ; palm 
oil and wood ashes are then rubbed into the wound, 
thus causing a thick ridge. The Bornouese in Central 
Africa have twenty cuts or lines on each side of the 

^ See also Baikie's Exploring ^ Dalzel, History of Dahom, 

Voyage, pp. 77, 294, 336, and es- p. xviii. 
pecially 460. ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc, vol. v. p. 86. 



60 TATTOOING 

face, which are drawn from the corners of the mouth 
towards the angles of the lower jaw and cheekbone. 
They have also one cut m the centre of the forehead, 
six on each arm, six on each leg, four on each breast, 
and nine on each side, just above the hips. This makes 
91 large cuts, and the process is said to be extremely 
painful on account of the heat and flies. ^ 

The islanders of Torres Straits ornament themselves 
by a large oval scar, slightly raised and neatly made. 
It is situated on the right shoulder, but some of them 
have a second on the left. At Cape York many of the 
natives also had two or three long transverse scars on 
the chest. Many had also a two-horned mark on each 
breast, but these differences seemed to depend on the 
taste of the individual. 

The custom of tattooing is found almost all over 
the world, though, as might be expected, it is most 
developed in hot countries. In Siberia, however, the 
Ostiak women tattoo the backs of the hands, the fore- 
arm and the front of the leg. The men only tattoo, 
on the wrist, the mark or sign which stands as their 
signature.^ 

Among the Tuski ^ ' the faces of the women are tat- 
' tooed on the chin in diverging lines ; men only make 
' a permanent mark on the face for an act of prowess 
' or success, such as killing a bear, capturing a whale, 
' &c., and possibly also, in war time, for the death of an 
' enemy.' The Aleutian Islanders decorate their hands 
and faces with figures of quadrupeds, birds, flowers, &c. 



^ Denham, vol. iii, p. 175. ^ Hooper, the Tents of the 

2 Pallas, vol. iv. p. 56. Tuski, p. 37. 



TATTOOING 61 

Among the Tunguses the patterns are generally formed 
by straight and curved lines. ^ 

Among the Arabs ^ ' the Aenezi women puncture 
^ their lips and dye them blue ; the Serhhan women 
^ puncture their cheeks, breasts, and arms, and the 
^ Ammour women their ankles.' 

The Malagasy do not generally tattoo, but the 
women of the Betsileo tribes, according to Mr. Camp- 
bell,^ have their arms ' tattooed all over, some of them 
* having also a kind of open-work collar tattooed round 
^ their necks. The breasts of the men were ornamented 
' after the same fashion.' 

Many of the hill tribes of India tattoo.^ Among 
the Abors, for instance, the men have a cross on the 
forehead ; the women a smaller one on the upper lip 
just below the nose, and seven stripes under the mouth. 
The Khyens are more extensively tattooed, with figures 
of animals, &c. ; they admit that it is not ornamental, 
but allege that they were driven to it because their 
women were naturally so beautiful that they were con- 
stantly carried off by neighbouring tribes. The Oraon 
women have three marks on the brow and two on the 
temple, while the men burn marks on their forearm. 

The women of Brumer Island, on the south coast of 
New Gruinea, were tattooed on the face, arms, and front 
of the body, but generally not on the back, in vertical 
stripes less than an inch apart, and connected by zigzag 
markings. On the face these were more complicated, 

1 Miiller's Des. de toutes les ^ Sibree's Madagascar and its. 
Nat. de I'Emp. de Russie, pt. iii. People, p. 221. 

pp. 58, 112. ^ Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal^ 

2 Burckhardt's Notes on the Be- pp. 27, 114, 251. 
doiiins and Wahabys, vol. i. p. 51. 



62 • TATTOOING 

and on the forearm and wrist they were frequently 
so elaborate as to resemble lace-work.^ The men were 
more rarely tattooed, and then only with a few lines or 
stars on the right breast. Sometimes, however, the 
markings consisted of a double series of large stars and 
dots stretching from the shoulder to the pit of the 
stomach. 

Not content with the paint already mentioned, the 
inhabitants of Tanna have on their arms and chests 
elevated scars, representing plants, flowers, stars, and 
various other figures. ' The inhabitants of Tazovan, 
' or Formosa, by a very painful operation, impress on 
' their naked skins various figures of trees, flowers, 
^ and animals. The great men in Guinea have their 
^ skin flowered like damask ; and in Decan the women 
' likewise have flowers cut into their flesh on the fore- 
^ head, the arms, and the breast, and the elevated scars 
^ are painted in colours, and exhibit the appearance of 
' flowered damask.' ^ 

In the Tonga Islands ' the men are tattooed from 
' the middle of the thigh to above the hips. The women 
' are only tattooed on the arms and fingers, and there 
' very slightly.'^ In the Fiji Islands, on the contrary, 
the women are tattooed and not the men. 

In the Gambier Islands, Beechey says,^ ' tattooing is 
' so universally practised, that it is rare to meet a man 

* without it ; and it is carried to such an extent that 

* the figure is sometimes covered with small checkered 
^ lines from the neck to the ankles, though the breast is 

1 M'Gillivray's Voyage of the jd. 588. 

* Kattlesnake,' vol. i. p. 262. ^ Qook's Voyage towards the 

2 Forster's Ohservations made South Pole, vol. i. p. 218. 
during a Voyage round the World, * Beechey, vol. i. p. 138. 



TATTOOING 63 

^ generally exempt, or only ornamented with a single 
* device. In some, generally elderly men, the face is 
' covered below the eyes, in which case the lines or net- 
' work are more open than on other parts of the body, 
' probably on account of the pain of the operation, and 
' terminate at the upper part in a straight line from ear 
^ to ear, passing over the bridge of the nose. With 
^ these exceptions, to which we may add the fashion, 
' with some few, of blue lines, resembling stockings, 
^ from the middle of the thigh to the ankle, the effect is 
^ becoming, and in a great measure destroys the appear- 
' ance of nakedness. The patterns which most improve 
'the shape, and which appear to me peculiar to this 
' group, are those which extend from the armpits to 
' the hips, and are drawn forward with a curve which 
' seems to contract the waist, and at a short distance 
' gives the figure an elegance and outline, not unlike 
^ that of the figures seen on the walls of the Egyptian 
^ tombs.' 

Fig. 12 represents a Caroline Islander, after Frey- 
cinet, and gives an idea of the tattooing, though it cannot 
be taken as representing the form or features character- 
istic of those islanders. 

The tattooing of the Sandwich Islanders is less 
ornamental, the devices being, according to Arago, 
' unmeaning and whimsical, without taste, and in general 
' badly executed.' ^ Perhaps, however, the most beau- 
tiful of all was that of the New Zealanders (see figs. 
13 and 14), who were generally tattooed in curved 
or spiral lines. The process is extremely painful, par- 
ticularly on the lips ; but to shrink from it, or even to 

1 Arago's Letters, pt. ii. p. 147. 



64 



TATTOOING 



show any signs of suiFering while under the operation^ 
would be thought very unmanly. The natives used 
the ' Moko ' or pattern of their tattooing as a kind of 



Fig. 12 




CAEOLINE ISLANDEE 



signature. The women have their lips tattooed with 
horizontal lines. To have red lips is thought to be a 
great reproach.^ 

^ For details of Polynesian tat- ploring Expedition : Ethnography, 
tooing see Hale's United States Fix- p. 40. 



ARTIFICIAL ALTERATION OF FORM 



65 



When tastefully executed, tattooing has been re- 
garded by many travellers as a real ornament. Thus 
Laird says that some of the tattooing in West Africa 
' in the absence of clothing gives a finish to the skin.' ^ 

Many similar cases might be given in which savages 
ornament themselves, as they suppose, in a manner which 
must be very painful. Perhaps none is more remarkable 



Fig. 13 



Fig. 14 




HEAD OP NEW ZEALANDEE 



HEAD OF NEW ZEALANDEE 



than the practice which we find in several parts of the 
world of modifying the human form by means of tight 
bandages. The small size of the Chinese ladies' feet is 
a well-known case, but is scarcely less mischievous than 
the compression of the waist as practised in Europe. 
The Samoans ^ and some of the American tribes even 
modified the form of the head. One w^ould have 

1 Narrative of an Expedition into ^ burner's Nineteen Years in 

the Interior of Africa, vol. i. p. 291. Polynesia, p. 175. 

r 



QQ EAIBDBE88ING 

supposed that any such compression would have exer- 
cised a very prejudicial effect on the intellect ; but, as far 
as the existing evidence goes, it does not appear to do so. 

The mode of dealing with the hair varies very much 
in different races. Some races remove it almost entirely, 
some leave a ridge along the top of the head ; the Kaffir 
wears a round rmg of hair ; the North American Indian 
regards it as a point of honour to leave one tuft, in case 
he ever has the misfortune of being defeated, for it would 
be mean to cheat his victor of the scalp, the recognised 
emblem of conquest. 

The Islanders of Torres Straits twist their hair into 
long pipe-like ringlets, and also wear a kind of wig pre- 
pared in the same fashion. Sometimes they shave the 
head, leaving a transverse crest of hair. At Cape York 
the hair is almost always kept short.^ In Tanna the 
women wear it short, but have it all laid out in a forest 
of little erect curls, about an inch and a half long. 
The men wear it twelve and eighteen inches long, 
and have it divided into some six or seven hundred 
little locks or tresses. Beginning at the roots, every one 
of these is carefully wound round by the thin rind of a 
creeping plant, giving it the appearance of a piece of 
twine. The ends are left exposed for about two inches, 
and oiled and curled.^ 

The Fijians give a great deal of time and attention 
to their hair, as is shown m PI. II. Most of the chiefs 
have a special hairdresser, to whom they sometimes 
devote several hours a day. Their heads of hair are 
often more than three feet in circumference, and Mr. 

^ M'Gillivray's Voyage of the ^ Turner's Nineteen Years in 

^ Rattlesnake/ pp. 11, 13. Polynesia, p. 77. 




FEEJEEAN MODES OF DRESSING THE HAIR 



FIJI HAIBDBESSES 67 

Williains measured one which was nearly five feet round. 
This forces them to sleep on narrow wooden pillows or 
neck-rests, which must be very uncomfortable. They 
also dye the hau\ Black is the natural and favourite 
colour, but some prefer white, flaxen, or bright red. 

' On one head/ says Mr. Williams,^ ' all the hair is 
' of a uniform height ; but one-third in front is ashy or 
^ sandy, and the rest black, a sharply defined separation 
^ dividing the two colours. Not a few are so ingeniously 
^ grotesque as to appear as if done purposely to excite 

* laughter. One has a large knot of fiery hair on his 
^ crown, all the rest of his head being bald. Another 
^ has the most of his hair cut away, leaving three or four 
^ rows of small clusters, as if his head were planted with 

* small paint-brushes. A third has his head bare except 

* where a large patch projects over each temple. One, 
^ two, or three cords of twisted hair often fall from the 
' right temple, a foot or eighteen inches long. Some 

* men wear a number of these braids, so as to form a 
^ curtain at the back of the neck, reaching from one ear 
Ho the other. A mode that requires great care has 
^ the hair brought into distinct locks radiating from the 

* head. Each lock is a perfect cone about seven inches 
^ long, having the base outwards ; so that the surface of 

* the hair is marked out into a great number of small 
^ circles, the ends being turned in in each lock, towards 
' the centre of the cone. ' ^ In some of the Pacific 
Islands the natives wear wigs, or tresses of hair, in 
addition to their own.^ 

1 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. p. 338, et seq. 
158. ^ Hale's United States Expl. 

^ See, for many further par- Expedition : Ethnography, p. 12. 
ticulars, Darwin's Descent of Man, 

P 2 



68 SOUDAN EAIBBEE8S 

Schweinfurtli describes a dandy, belonging to the 
Dinkas, a negro tribe of the Soudan, whose hair was 
dyed red, and trained up into points like tongues of 
flame, standing stiffly up, all round his head. 

In fact, the passion for self- ornamentation seems to 
prevail among the lowest as much as, if not more than^ 
among the more civilised races of man. 



I 



69 



CHAPTER III. 

MAREIAGE AND RELATIONSHIP. 

NOTHING, perha23S, gives a more instructive insight 
into the true condition of savages than their ideas 
on the subject of relationship and marriage ; nor can 
the great advantages of civihsation be more conclusively 
proved than by the improvement which it has already 
effected in the relation between the two sexes. 

Marriage, and the relationship of a child to its father 
and mother, seem to us so natural and obvious, that we 
are apt to look on them as aboriginal and general to 
the human race. This, however, is very far from being 
the case. The lowest races have no institution of mar- 
riage ; true love is almost unknown among them ; and 
marriage, in its lowest phases, is by no means a matter 
of affection and companionship. 

The Hottentots, says Kolben,^ ' are so cold and in- 
' different to one another that you would think there 
' was no such thing as love between them.' Among the 
Koussa Kaffirs, Lichtenstein asserts that there is ' no 
' feeling of love in marriage.' ^ In North America, the 
Tinne Indians had no word for ' dear ' or ' beloved ; ' 
and the Algonquin language is stated to have contained 
no verb meaning ' to love | ' so that when the Bible was 

^ Kolben's Hist, of the Cape of ^ Travels in .South Africa, vol. i. 

Good Hope, vol. i. p. 162. p. 261. 



70 THE POSITION OF WOMEN AMONG 8AVAGES 

translated by the missionaries into that language it was 
necessary to invent a word for the purpose. 

'In his native state,' says Mr. Morgan,^ 'the (North 
' American) Indian is below the passion of love. It is 
' entirely unknown among them, with the exception, to 
'a limited extent, of the village Indians.' He men- 
tions elsewhere a case of an Ahahuelin woman named 
' Ethabe,' who had been married for three years to a 
Blackfoot Indian, yet there was no common articulate 
language which they both understood. They communi- 
cated entirely by signs, neither of them having taken 
the trouble to learn the other's language.^ 

Though the songs of savages are generally devoted 
to the chase, war, or women, they can very rarely be 
called love songs. Dr. Mitchell, for instance, who was 
for several years chairman of the United States Senate 
Committee on Indian Affairs, mentions that ' neither 
' among the Osages nor the Cherokees could there be 
' found a single poetical or musical sentiment, founded 
' on the tender passion between the sexes. Though 
' often asked, they produced no songs of love.' ^ 

In Yariba (Central Africa),^ says Lander, 'marriage 
'is celebrated by the natives as unconcernedly as pos- 
' sible : a man thinks as little of taking a wife as of 
' cutting an ear of corn — affection is altogether out of 
' the question.' The King of Boussa,^ he tells us in 
another place, ' when he is not engaged in public affairs, 
' usually employs all his leisure hours in superintending 

^ Systems of Consanguinity and 317. 
Affinity of the Human Family, p. * R. and J, Lander's Niger Ex- 

207. pedition, vol. i. p. 161. 

2 Loc. cit. p. 227. ' " Ibid. vol. ii. p. 106. See also 

5 Archseol. Americana, vol. i. p. p. 197. 



ABSBNGI] OF AFFECTION IN MARRIAGE 71 

^ the occupations of his household, and making his own 
' clothes. The Midiki (queen) and he have distinct 
^ establishments, divided fortunes, and separate inte- 

* rests ; indeed, they appear to have nothing in com- 
' mon with each other, and yet we have never seen so 
^friendly a couple since leaving our native country.' 
On the Gold Coast, ' not even the appearance of 
' affection exists between husband and wife.' ^ Among 
the Mandingoes marriage is merely a form of regulated 
slavery. Husband and wife ' never laugh or joke to- 

* gether.' ' I asked Baba,' says Caillie, ' why he did not 
' sometimes make merry with his wives. He replied 
' that if he did he should not be able to manage them, 
^ for they would laugh at him when he ordered them to 
' do anything.' ^ 

According to Galton, Dammara women ' divorce 

* themselves as often as they like ; ... in fact, the 
' spouse was changed almost weekly, and I seldom knew, 
' without inquiry, who the pro tempore husband of each 
*lady was at any particular time.' ^ 

In India, the Hill tribes of Chittagong, says Captain 
Lewin, regard marriage 'as a mere animal and con- 

* venient connection ; ' as the ' means of getting their 

* dinner cooked. They have no idea of tenderness, nor 
' of chivalrous devotion.' ^ 

Among the Samoyedes^ of Siberia the husbands 
show little affection for their wives, and, according to 
Pallas, ' daignent a peine leur dire une parole de 
^ douceur.' Further East, in the Aleutian Islands, the 

1 Burton's Mission to the King * Hill Tracts of Ohittagong, p. 
of Dahomey,, vol. ii. p. 190. 116. 

2 Travels, vol. i. p. 350. ^ Pallas's Voyages, vol. iv. p. 94. 

3 Tropical Soutli Africa, p. 197. 



72 ABSENCE OF AFFECTION IN MAEBIAGE 

marriages, according to Miiller/ ' meritent a peine le 
' nom ; ' and the facts lie mentions go far to justify this 
statement. 

Among the Guyacurus of Paraguay ' the bonds of 

* matrimony are so very slight, that when the parties do 
^ not like each other they separate without any further 

* ceremony. In other respects they do not appear to 
' have the most distant notions of that bashfulness so 
' natural to the rest of mankind.' ^ The Guaranis seem 
to have been in a very similar condition.^ In North 
America the marriage tie was by no means regarded as 
of a religious character.^ 

In Australia ' little real affection exists between 
^ husbands and wives : and young men value a wife 
' principally for her services as a slave ; in fact, when 

* asked why they are anxious to obtain wives, their 
' usual reply is, that they may get wood, water, and 
' food for them, and carry whatever property they 
' possess.' ^ 

The position of women in Australia seems indeed 
to be wretched in the extreme. They are treated 
with the utmost brutality, beaten and speared in the 
limbs on the most trivial provocation. Few women, 
says Eyre, ' will be found, upon examination, to be free 
' from frightful scars upon the head, or the marks of 
' spear wounds about the body. I have seen a young 

* woman who, from the number of these marks, appeared 
' to have been almost riddled with spear wounds. If 

^ Des. de toutes les Nat. de I'Em- vol. ii. p. 60. 
pire de Russie, part iii. p. 129. * Jones, Antiquities of the 

^ Charlevoix, Hist, of Paraguay, Southern Indians, p. 67, 
vol. i. p. 91. ° Eyre's Discoveries, vol. ii. p. 

3 Loc. cit. p. 352. See also Azara, 321. See notes. 



RELATIONSHIP AMONG SAVAGES 73 

^ at all good-looking, their position is, if possible, even 
^ worse than otherwise.' 

Again, our family system, which regards a child as 
equally related to his father and his mother, seems so 
natural that we experience a feeling of surprise on 
meeting with any other system. Yet we shall find, I 
think, reason for concluding that a man was first re- 
garded as merely related to his tribe ; then to his 
mother but not to his father ; then to his father and 
not to his mother ; and only at last to both father and 
mother. Even among the Eomans the family was 
originally based, not on marriage or on relationship, 
but on power ; ^ ' le lien seul,' says Ortolan, ' de la 
' parente naturelle, de la parente de sang, n'est rien chez 
les ' Romains ; ' and a man's wife and children only 
formed a part of his family, not because they were his 
relatives, but because they were subject to his control ; 
so that a son who was emancipated — that is to say, 
made free — had no share in the inheritance, having 
ceased to belong to the family. In fact, the word, 
' family ' is said to be derived from an Osque word, 
'famul,' a slave. 

The fact is, we require a new word for a sort of 
relationship which we do not ourselves recognise. 
Savages who have the custom of descent through 
females do not recognise the family of the father as 
belonging to the same gens. In one sense they are 
not relations. They have no right of inheritance, nor 
does a very near connection (from our point of view) 
interpose any barrier to marriage. On the other hand, 

1 Ortolan's Expl. Hist, des Instituts de TEmp. Justinien, vol. i. pp. 126, 
128,180,416. 



74 BELATIONSHIP AMONG SAVAGES 

of course no one would assert that they recognised no 
bond of union between father and son. 

They have, in fact, three distinct bonds of union : — 

1. The tribe ; 

2. The gens ; and 

3. That actual connection which exists between 
father and son, even though they are not regarded as 
belonging to the same gens or family. 

We shall, however, be better able to understand 
this part of the question when we have considered the 
various phases which marriage presents ; for it is by 
no means of a uniform character, but takes several 
very distinct forms. In some cases nothing of the sort 
appears to exist at all ; in others it is essentially 
temporary, and exists only till the birth of the child, 
when both man and woman are free to mate themselves 
afresh. In others, the man buys the woman, who be- 
comes as much his property as his horse or his dog. 

The Romans had two forms of marriage. One was 
created by a religious ceremony, ^ confarreatio.' In 
this case the wife at once came under the ' manus ' of her 
husband, and her position was technically almost exactly 
that of a slave or a child. In the second form of 
marriage, that by sale, the wife was so closely assimi- 
lated to property that the full rights of possession 
could not be acquired until the usual period of prescrip- 
tion had passed. A title by prescription could only be 
acquired by a year's continued possession. Accordingly 
it became quite usual for the wife to return three days 
every year to her father's house, the result of which was 
that she never came under the ' manus ' of her husband. 
She then remained a member of her father's family, and 



BIFFEBENT KINDS OF MABBIAGE 75 

the husband acquired no legal power over her. Her 
status in the two cases was therefore quite different. 

In Sumatra there were formerly three perfectly dis- 
tinct kinds of marriage : the ' Jugur,' in which the man 
purchased the woman ; the ' Ambel-anak,' in which the 
woman purchased the man ; and the ' Semando,' in 
which they joined on terms of equality. In the mode of 
marriage by Ambel-anak, says Marsden,^ ' the father of 
' a virgin makes a choice of some young man for her 
' husband, generally from an inferior family, which re- 
' nounces all further right to, or interest in, him ; and 
' he is taken into the house of his father-in-law, who 
' kills a buffalo on the occasion, and receives twenty 
^ dollars from his son's relations. After this, the buruk 
' baik' nia (the good and bad of him) is invested in the 
^ wife's family. If he murders or robs, they pay the 
' bangun, or fine. If he is murdered, they receive the 
^ bangun. They are liable to any debts he may con- 
' tract in marriage ; those prior to it remaining with 
' his parents. He lives in the family, in a state between 
' that of a son and a debtor. He partakes as a son of 
' what the house afibrds, but has no property in himself. 

* His rice plantation, the produce of his pepper garden, 
' with everything that he can gain or earn, belongs 
' to the family. He is liable to be divorced at their 
' pleasure, and though he has children, must leave all, 

* and return naked as he came.' 

In the Jugur marriage the woman became the pro- 
perty of the man. 

' The Semando ^ is a regular treaty between the 

* parties, on the footing of equality. The adat paid to 

1 Marsden's Hist, of Sumatra, p. 262. ^ j^^-^^ p 26.3. 



IQ DIFFERENT KINDS OF MARRIAGE 

' the girl's friends has usually been twelve dollars. 
' The agreement stipulates that all effects, gains, or 
' earnings are to be equally the property of both ; and, 
' in case of divorce by mutual consent, the stock, debts, 
' and credits are to be equally divided. If the man 
' only insists on the divorce, he gives the woman her 
' half of the effects, and loses the twelve dollars he has 
' paid. If the woman only claims the divorce, she 
' forfeits her right to the proportion of the effects, but 
' is entitled to keep hertikar, bantal, and dandan (para- 
' phernalia), and her relations are liable to pay back the 
' twelve dollars ; but it is seldom demanded.' 

These three forms of marriage, co-existing in Sumatra, 
represent, as we shall see, three stages passed through 
successively by various other races. 

In Ceylon there were two kinds of marriage — the 
Deega marriage, and the Beena marriage. In the 
former the woman went to her husband's hut ; in the 
latter the man transferred himself to that of the woman. 
Moreover, according to Davy, marriages in Ceylon were 
provisional for the first fortnight, at the expiration of 
which period they were either annulled or confirmed.^ 

Again, in various parts of Africa we find two kinds 
of marriage existing together. In Guinea, besides the 
ordinary wives, a man often buys some slave whom he 
consecrates to his Bossum or God. The Bossum wife 
then becomes his in an exceptional sense. She is sacri- 
ficed at her husband's death, she ranks next to the head 
wife, and shares his religion. 

The Hassani3'eh Arabs have a very curious form 
of marriage, which may be called ' three-quarter ' mar- 

1 Davy's Ceylon, p. 286. 



DIFFEBENT KINDS OF MARBIAGE 11 

riage ; that is to say, the woman is legally married 
for three days out of four, remaining perfectly free for 
the fourth. 

In Australia the tribes are divided into clans, and a 
man may not marry a woman of the same clan. On 
the other hand, the men are regarded as by birth hus- 
bands of all the women whom they can legally marry. 
Besides this, however, a man has, or may have, an 
individual wife, generally acquired by capture. 

Among the Eomans, as shown by the Laws of the 
Twelve Tables, and as already mentioned, there were in 
reality two kinds of marriage, and, as Ortolan says, ^ il 

* faut se bien garder de confondre entre eux le mariage 

* (nuptise, justae nupti^, justum matrimonium) et la 
' puissance maritale (manus).' ^ The latter required the 
performance of ceremonies, which were unnecessary for 
the former. 

Among the Karoks, marriage is strictly a matter of 
purchase : when a young man has paid the price of his 
bride, she becomes his property ; on the other hand, if he 
cannot provide the whole sum he is sometimes allowed 
to pay a portion, and become what is called 'half- 
' married.^ In that case, instead of bringing her to his 
cabin, and making her his slave, he goes to hers and 
becomes subject to her, or rather to her father. Azara 
tells us that among the Guanas careful stipulations were 
made as to the duties and obligations the bride under- 
took with reference to her husband : how far she was 
bound to provide him food, whether she was to procure 
the necessary firewood, whether she was to be the sole 
wife, whether she was to be free to marry another man 

* Ortolan's Expl. Hist, des Inst, de I'Emp. Justinieu, p. 127. 



78 BIFFEEENT KINDS OF MABBIAGE 

also, and in that case how much of her time the first 
husband wished to engage. 

In Japan, among the higher classes, it is said that 
the eldest son brings his bride to the paternal home ; 
but, on the other hand, the eldest daughter does the 
same, and retains her name, which is assumed by the 
bridegroom. Thus the wife of an eldest son joins her 
husband's family ; but, on the other hand, the husband 
of an eldest daughter enters into that of his wife. 
Among the Romans, though ' coemptio,' or purchase, 
was one of the recognised forms of marriage, it would 
seem that originally this merely gave possession, and 
a woman who belonged to any man by coemptio might 
otherwise be married to another.-^ Hence the eldest son 
of one family cannot marry the eldest daughter of an- 
other. As regards the younger children, if the husband's 
father provides the house, the wife takes her husband's 
name ; while, if the bride's father does so, the bridegroom 
assumes that of his wife.^ 

Among the Reddies ^ of Southern India a very 
singular custom prevails : — ' A young woman of sixteen 
' or twenty years of age may be married to a boy of five 
' or six years ! She, however, lives with some other 
' adult male — perhaps a maternal uncle or cousin — ^biit 
' is not allowed to form a connection with the father's 
' relatives ; occasionally it may be the boy-husband's 
^ father himself — that is, the woman's father-in-law ! 
' Should there be children from these liaisons, thev are 
' fathered on the boy-husband. When the boy grows 

^ Fustal de Coulonges, La Cite Family, p, 428. 
Antique, p. 376. 3 gbortt. Trans. Ethn. Soc, New 

'■^ Morgan's System of Consan- Series, vol. vii. p. 194. 
guinity and Affinity of tlie Human 



POLYANDRY 79 

^ up, the wife is either old or past child-bearing, when 
^ he in his turn takes up with some other " boy's " wife 
^ in a manner precisely similar to his own, and procreates 
' children for the boy -husband.' 

Polyandry, or the marriage of one woman to several 
men at once, is more common than is generally sup- 
posed, though much less so than polygamy, which is 
almost universally permitted among the lower races of 
men. One reason — though I do not say the only one — 
for this, is obvious when pointed out. Long after our 
children are weaned, milk remains an important and 
necessary part of their food. We supply this want with 
cow's milk ; but among people who have no domesti- 
cated animals this cannot, of course, be done, and con- 
sequently the children are not weaned until they are 
two, three, or even four years old, during all which period 
the husband and wife generally remain apart. Thus, 
in Fiji, ' the relatives of a woman take it as a public 
' insult if any child should be born before the customary 
' three or four years have elapsed, and they consider 
^ themselves in duty bound to avenge it in an equally 
^ public manner.' ^ 

It seems to us natural and proper that husband and 
wife should enjoy as much as possible the society of 
one another. But this view is by no means universal. 
On the contrary, among the Turkomans, according to 
Eraser, for six months or a year, or even sometimes 
two years, after a marriage, the husband was only 
allowed to visit his wife by stealth. ' After the wed- 
' ding,' says Burnes, ' the bride returns to the house of 
^ her parents, and passes a year in preparing the carpets 

^ Seemann, A Mission to Fiji, p. 191. 



80 SEPARATION OF HUSBAND AND WIFE 

' and clothes, which are necessary for a Toorkmun tent ; 
^ and on the anniversary of her elopement she is finally 
^ transferred to the arms and house of her gallant lover.' ^ 

Among the Samoyedes the bride and bridegroom 
are kept apart for a month after their marriage,^ and 
Klemm states that the same is the case among the Cir- 
cassians until the first child is born. Martins mentions 
the existence of a similar custom among some of the 
Brazilian tribes.^ Among the Fijians, husbands and 
wives do not usually spend the night together, except 
as it were by stealth. It is quite contrary to Fijian 
ideas of delicacy that they should sleep under the same 
roof. A man spends his day with his family, but 
absents himself on the approach of night.^ In Chitta- 
gong (India), although, ' according to European ideas, 
' the standard of morality among the Kyoungtha is low,^ 
yet husband and wife are on no account permitted to 
sleep together until seven days after marriage.^ 

Burckhardt^ states that in Arabia, after the wedding, 
if it can be called so, the bride returns to her mother's 
tent, but again runs away in the evening, and repeats 
these flights several times, till she finally returns to her 
tent. She does not go to live in her husband's tent for 
some months, perhaps not even till a full year, from the 
wedding-day. Among the Yotyaks, some weeks after 
the wedding the bride returns to her father's tent, and 
lives there for two or three months, sometimes even for 

^ Burnes' Travels in Bokhara^ * Seemaiin'sMissiontoViti,p.l9]. 

vol. ii. p. 56. See also Vambery's ^ Lewin's Hill Tracts of Chitta- 

Travels in Central Asia, p. 323. gong, p. 51. 

2 Pallas, vol. iii. p. 79. ^ Burckhardt's Notes, vol. ii. p. 

3 Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc. vol. ii. 269, quoted in M'Lennan's Primitive 
p. 198. Marriage, p. 302. 



ABSENCE OF MARRIAGE CEREMONY 81 

a year, during which time she dresses and behaves like 
a girl, and after which she returns to her husband ; 
making, however, even on the second occasion, a show 
of resistance.-^ 

Lafitau informs us that among the North American 
Indians the husband only visits the wife -as it were by 
stealth : — ' lis n'osent aller dans les cabanes particulieres, 

* oil habitent leurs epouses, que durant Tobscurite de la 
' nuit ; . . . ce serait une action extraordinaire de s'y 

* presenter le jour.' ^ 

In Futa, one of the West African kingdoms, it is 
said that no husband is allowed to see his wife's face 
until he has been three years married. 

In Sparta, and in Crete, according to Xenophon and 
Strabo, it was the custom that married people for some 
time after the wedding only saw one another as it were 
clandestinely ; and a similar custom is said to have 
existed among the Lycians. So far as I am aware, no 
satisfactory explanation of this custom has yet been 
given. I shall, however, presently venture to suggest 
one. 

There are many cases in which savages have no such 
thing as any ceremony in marriage. ' I have said nothing, ' 
says Metz, ' about the marriage ceremonies of the Bada- 
' gas (Hindostan), because they can scarcely be said to 
' have any.' The Kurumbas, another tribe of the Neil- 
gherry Hills, ' have no marriage ceremony.' ^ According 
to Colonel Dalton.^ the Keriahs of Central India ' have 
' no word for marriage in their own language, and the 

^ Miiller's Des. de toutes les ^ Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 576. 

Nations de TEmp. de Kussie, part ii. ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vii.p. 276. 

p. 71. ^ Ibid. vol. vi. p. 25. 

G 



82 ABSENCE OF MARRIAGE CEREMONY, 

' only ceremony used appears to be little more than a sort 
' of public recognition of the fact.' It is very singular, 
he adds elsewhere, 'that of the many intelligent observers 
' who have visited and written on Butan not one has 
' been able to tell us that they have such an institution 
' as a marriage ceremony.' The tie between man and 
woman seems to be very slight, and to be a mere matter 
of servitude. ' From my own observation,' he continues, 
*I believe the Butias to be utterly indifferent on the 
' subject of the honour of their women.' ^ So also the 
Spanish missionaries found no word for marriage^ nor 
any marriage ceremony, among the Indians of Cali- 
fornia.^ Farther north, among the Kutchin Indians, 
' there is no ceremony observed at marriage or birth.' ^ 
The same is the case among the Aleutians,^ and several 
other North Pacific tribes. 

The marital rite, says Schoolcraft, ' among our 
tribes' (i.e. the Redskins of the United States) 'is no- 
' thing more than the personal consent of the parties, 
' without requiring any concurrent act of a priesthood, a 
' magistracy or witnesses ; the act is assumed by the par- 
^ ties, without the necessity of any extraneous sanction.' ^ 

According to Brett, there is no marriage ceremony 
among the Arawaks of South America.^ Martins makes 
the same assertion with reference to the Brazilians 
generally,^ and it is also the case with some of the 
Australian tribes.^ 



^ Des. Ethn. of Bengal, p. 97. ^ Indian Tribes, pp. 248, 132. 

^ Bagaert, Smithsonian Report, *^ Guiana, p. 101. 

1863, p. 368. Bancroft, vol. i. p. 565. ' Loc. cit. p. 51. 

^ Smithsonian Eeport^ 1866, p. ^ Eyre's Discoveries, vol. ii. p. 

326. 319. 

^ Bancroft, vol. i. pp. 92, 277. 



ABSENCE OF MAEBIAGE GBBEMONY 83 

There is, says Bruce, ' no such thmg as marriage in 
Abyssinia, unless that which is contracted by mutual 
consent, without other form, subsisting only till dis- 
solved by dissent of one or other, and to be renewed 
or repeated as often as it is agreeable to both parties, 
who, when they please, live together again as man and 
wife, after having been divorced, had children by others, 
or whether they have been married, or had children 
with others or not. I remember to have once been at 
Koscam in presence of the Iteghe (the queen), when, 
in the circle, there was a woman of great quality, and 
seven men who had all been her husbands, none of 
whom was the happy spouse at that time.' ^ Among 
the Bedouin Arabs there is a marriage ceremony in the 
case of a girl, but the re-marriage of a Avidow is not 
thought sufficiently important to deserve one. Speke 
says, ' there are no such things as marriages in 
' Uganda.' ^ 

Of the Mandingoes (West Africa), Caillie^ says that 
husband and wife are not united by any ceremony ; and 
Hutton ^ makes the same statement as regards the Ash- 
antees. In Congo and xingola ^ ' they use no peculiar 
' ceremonies in marriage, nor scarce trouble themselves 
' for consent of friends.' Le Vaillant says that there are 
no marriage ceremonies among the Hottentots.; ^ and the 
Bushmen, according to Mr. Wood, had in their language 
no means of distinoTiishins^ an unmarried from a married 
girl.7 

^ Brace's Travels, vol. iv. p. 487. '" Astley's Ooll. of Voyages, vol. 

~ Journal, p. 361. iii. pp. 221, 227. 
^ Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 350. ^ Voyages, vol. ii. p. 58. 

^ Klemm, Cultur d. Mensclien, '^ Natural History of Man, vol. i. 

vol. iii. p. 280. p. 269. 

G 2 



84 MAEBIAGE CEBUMONIES 

In Northern Asia the Tunguses are said to have no 
marriage ceremony. 

Yet we must not assume that marriage is necessarily 
and always lightly regarded where it is unaccompanied 
by ceremonial. 

There is a great distinction between what may be 
called ^ lax ' and ' brittle ' marriages. In some countries 
the marriage tie may be broken with the greatest ease, 
and yet, as long as it lasts, is strictly respected ; while 
in other countries the very reverse is the case. 

Perhaps on the whole any marriage ceremony is 
better than none at all, but some races have practices at 
marriage which are extremely objectionable. Some, also, 
are very curious, and no doubt symbolical. At Bonabe, 
one of the Micronesian Pacific Islands, the wife is 
tattooed with the marks standing for the names of her 
husband's ancestors.^ One portion of the marriage 
ceremony among the Mundaris, one of the Bengal Hill 
tribes, is very suggestive. The bride walks in front of 
the bridegroom with a pitcher of water on her head, 
supported by one arm. The bridegroom walks behind, 
and through the pretty loophole thus formed he shoots 
an arrow. The girl walks on to where the arrow falls, 
picks it up with her foot, takes it into her hand, and re- 
spectfully returns it to her husband.^ In many parts 
of India, bride and bridegroom are marked with one 
another's blood, probably to signify the intimate union 
which has taken place between them. This is the 
custom, for instance, among the Birhors. Colonel Dal- 
ton believes this to be ' the origin of the custom now so 

' Hale's United States Explor, ^ Dalton's Des. Etlin. of Bengal, 

Exped.: Ethnography, p. 76. p. 195. 



MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 85 

* universal of marking with red lead.' ^ In other cases 
the idea symbolised is less obvious. Among some of the 
Hindoo tribes the bride and bridegroom are respectively 
married to trees in the first instance, and subsequently 
to one another. Thus a Kurmi bridegroom is married 
to a mango, his bride to a malwa tree.^ The idea under- 
lying this I take to be that they are thus devoted to the 
deities of the Mango and Malwa, and, having thus be- 
come respectively tabooed to other men and women, are, 
with the consent of the deities, espoused to one another. 

In ancient Russia, as part of the marriage ceremony, 
the father took a new whip, and after striking his 
daughter gently with it told her that he did so for the 
last time, and now presented the whip to the bride- 
groom, to whose power she then passed.^ 

Among the Canadian Indians, Carver^ says that, 
when the chief has pronounced the pair to be married, 

* the bridegroom turns round, and, bending his body, 
' takes his wife on his back, in which manner he carries 
' her, amidst the acclamations of the spectators, to his 
' tent.' The Western tribes regard it as an important 
part of the marriage ceremony that the bride should be 
carried to her husband's dwelling.^ In Mexico also 
the husband took the bride on his back and carried her 
a short distance.^ Bruce, in Abyssinia, observed an 
identical custom. When the ceremony is over, he says, 
' the bridegroom takes his lady on his shoulders, and 
' carries her off to his house. If it be at a distance he 

1 Dalton's Des. Etlin. of Bengal, * Travels, p. 374. 

pp. 220, 319. ■' Bancroft, vol. i. pp. 411, 703, 

2 Ibid. p. 319. 730. 

3 Meiners, Vergl. des alt. imd "^ Ihid. Yol.ii, ^. 261. 
neuer. Rnsslands, vol. ii. p. 167. 



86 LIFTING TEE BEIBE 

^ does the same thing, but only goes entirely round about 
' the bride's house/ ^ 

In China, when the bridal procession reaches the 
bridegroom's house, the bride is carried into the house 
by a matron, and ' lifted over a pan of charcoal at the 
' door.' 2 

We shall presently see that these are no isolated 
cases, nor is the act of lifting the bride over the bride- 
groom's threshold an act without a meaning. I shall 
shortly mention many allied customs, to the importance 
and significance of which our attention has recently 
been called by M'Lennan, in his masterly work on 
' Primitive Marriage.' 

I will now attempt to trace up the custom of mar- 
riage in its gradual development. There is strong 
evidence that the lowest races of men live, or did live, 
in a state of what may perhaps be called ^ Communal 
Marriage.' In many of the cases above given (pp. TO- 
TS) there can hardly be said to be any true marriage in 
our sense of the term, and many other instances might 
be given. In the Andaman Islands,^ Sir Edward 
Belcher states that the custom is for the man and 
woman to remain together until the child is weaned, 
when they separate as a matter of course, and each 
seeks a new partner ; but Mr. Man did not find this 
to be the custom among the families he visited. The 
Bushmen of South Africa are stated to be entirely with- 
out marriage. Among the Nairs (India), as Buchanan 
tells us, ' no one knows his father, and every man looks 
' on his sister's children as his heirs.' They may be 



1 Vol. vii. p. 67. 285. 

^ Davis, The Chinese, vol. i. p. ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. v. p. 45. 



BELATI0N8HIPS INDUPENBENT OF MABEIAGE 87 

said to have group marriages. A man may marry 
several women, and a woman may be the wife of several 
men. The Teehurs of Oude ' live together almost in- 
^ discriminately in large communities, and even when 
' two people are regarded as married the tie is but 
' nominal.' ^ 

In China, communal marriage is stated to have pre- 
vailed down to the time of Fouhi,^ in Egypt to that of 
Menes, and in Greece to that of Cecrops. The Massa- 
getse,^ and the Auses,^ an Ethiopian tribe, had, according 
to Herodotus, no marriage — a statement which is con- 
firmed by Strabo as regards the former. Strabo and 
Solinus made the same statement as regards the 
Garamantes, another Ethiopian tribe, and Ammianus 
Marcellinus with reference to certain Arabian tribes. In 
California, according to Baegert,^ the sexes met without 
any formalities, and their vocabulary did not even 
contain the words ' to marry.' Garcilasso de la Yega 
asserts that among some of the Peruvian tribes, before 
the time of the Incas, men had no special wives.^ 

Mr. Hyde, Principal of the North Pacific Missionary 
Institute, to whom I am indebted for various valuable 
suggestions, writes me that among the Pacific Islanders 
there was an ' utter absence of what we mean by the 
' family, the household, and the husband ; the only 
* thing possible was to keep distinct the line through 



1 The People of India, by J. F. ^ Clio, vol. i. p. 216. 

Watson and J. W. Kaye, published * Melpomene, vol. iv. p. 180. 

by the Indian Government, vol. ii. ^ Loc. cit. p. 368. 

pi. 85. ^ Commentaries of the Incas, 

^ Goguet, L'Origine des Lois, trans, by C. R. Markham, vol. ii. p. 

des Arts, et des Sciences, vol. iii. 443. 
p. 328. 



88 AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM OF BELATIONSHIP 

' the mother, and enumerate the successive generations 
* with the several putative fathers.' The original 
Hawaian word for ' to marry ' meant ' to try,' and 
the missionaries have been attempting to replace this 
by our word ' mare ' under a native form. 

Speaking of the natives of Queen Charlotte Island, 
Mr. Poole says,^ ' among these simple and primitive 
' tribes the institution of marriage is altogether un- 
' known.' The women appear to consider almost all 
the men of their own clan in the light of husbands. 
They are, on the contrary, very circumspect in their 
behaviour with other men. 

According to native legends, communal marriage 
existed in ancient times among the natives of Australia. 
Messrs. Fison and Howitt state that the South Aus- 
tralian tribes^ are divided into two classes or clans, 
Kumite and Kroki, the feminine equivalents of which are 
Kumitegor and Krokigor, and every Kumite is theoreti- 
cally the husband of every Krokigor, every Kroki being 
in the same way the husband of every Kumitegor. It 
is not asserted that marital rights are in full force at 
the present day, but they exist and are still acknow- 
ledged to a certaui extent. So again the Kamilaroi 
tribes, near Sydney, are divided into four great clans,^ 
in which the males are known as Ippai, Murri, Kubbi, 
and Kumbo ; the females, Ippata, Matha, Kapota, and 
Butha. 

' I. Ipai may marry only Kubitha. 

' II. Murri may marry only Butha. 

^ Queen Charlotte Islands, p. ^ Pritchard's Nat. Hist, of Man, 

312. ^ol. ii. p. 491. Kidley's Journ. 

2 See Fison and Howitt, The Anthr. Inst. 1872, p. 263. Lang's 

Kamilaroi and Kiirnai, p. 50. Queensland, p. 383. 



AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM OF BELATIONSHIP 89 

'III. Kubi may marry only Ipatha. 

' ly. Kumbu may marry only Matha. 

' Any attempt to infringe these rules would be 
^ unanimously resisted, even to bloodshed ; but it 
^ seems they never dream of attempting to transgress 
' them.' 

Even if a man has captured a woman in war, he 
may not marry her if she belongs to a forbidden class. 

' I. The children of Ipai by Kubitha are all Muri. 

' II. The children of Muri are all Ippai and Ippata. 

' III. The children of Kubi are all Kumbu and 
' Butha. 

' IV. The children of Kumbu are all Kubi and 
' Kubitha.' 

But Mr. Lance first pointed out, and he has since 
been fully confirmed by subsequent writers, that in a 
certain sense every Ipai is regarded as married, not by 
any individual contract, but by organic law, to every 
Kubitha ; every Kubi to every Ipatha, and so on. If, 
for instance, a Kubi, says Mr. Lance, ' meet a stranger 
' Ipatha, they address each other as spouse. A Kubi 
' thus meeting an Ipatha, though she were of another 
^ tribe, would treat her as his wife, and his right to do 
^ so would be recognised by her tribe.' -^ The idea of 
marriage in Australia, say Messrs. Fison and Howitt,^ 
' is something more than the marriage of group to 
' group, loithin a tribe. It is an arrangement, extending 
' across a continent, which divides many scattered — 
' widely scattered — tribes into intermarrying classes, 
^ and gives a man of one class marital rights over 

^ Quoted by Fison and Howitt, ^ The Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 

ioc. cit. p. 53. 54, 



90 AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM OF RELATION SHIF 

^ women of another class in a tribe a thousand miles 
' away, and speaking a language other than his own.' 
It would appear, however, that this right is now dying 
out, and is in most cases merely nominal. 

Mr. Bulmer, an English missionary in Australia, 
not understanding their customs, and wishing to make 
friends with the natives, allowed himself to be adopted 
with native ceremonials so as to become the brother of 
a young native of whom he had formed a high opinion. 
Next time he met the young man's wife he said to her : 
' You know you are my sister now. I am your hus- 
' band's brother.' ' Oh, no,' she said, laughing heartily ; 
^ you are now my husband.' And he found he had 
most unintentionally married her, according to native 
ideas, and every other woman of her name ! 

The backwardness (until lately) of the Sandwich 
Islanders in their social relations is manifested in their 
language. This is shown from the following table 
extracted from a longer one, given by Mr. Morgan in a 
most interesting work on the Origin of the Classification 
System of Eelationship.-^ 



Hawaian English 

/Great grandfather 
Great great uncle 
Great grandmother 
T-r- • -n Great OTandaunt 

Kupuna signifies ^(jr.^aLher 

Granduncle 
Grandmother 
\Grandaunt. 

^ Systems of Oonsangumity and Affinity. 



SOUTH SUA SYSTEM OF RELATIONSHIP 



91 



Hamaian 



Makua kana 



English 
/Fatlier 

Father's brother 
Father's brother-in-law 

1 Mother's brother 
Mother's brother-in-law 
Grandfather's brother's son. 



Makua waheena 



/Mother 

Mother's sister 
-< Mother's sister-in-law 

Father's sister 
I Father's sister-in-law. 



Son 

Sister's son 
Brother's son 
Brother's son's son 
Kaikee kana = < Brother's daughter's son 

Sister's son's son 
Sister's daughter's son 
Mother's sister's son's son 
mother's brother's son's son. 



Hunona 



/Brother's son's wife 

I Brother's daughter's husband 

I Sister's son's wife 

vSister's daughter's husband. 



Waheena 






rWife 

Wife's sister 
Brother's wife 
Wife's brother's wife 
^ Father's brother's son's wife 
Father's sister's son's wife 
Mother's sister's son's wife 
^Mother's brother's son's wife. 



92 SOUTH SEA SYSTEM OF EELATIONSHIP 

Hawaian English 

(Husband 
Husband's brother 
Sister's husband. 

Punalua = Wife's sister's husband (brother-in-law), 

Kaikoaka = Wife's brother. 

The key of this Hawaian or Sandwich Island ^ system 
is the idea conveyed in the word waheena (woman). 
Thus— 

Hamaicm English 

rWife 

__ , Wife's sister 

Waheena =\ , 

1 Brother s wiie 

IWife's brother's wife. 

All these are equally related to each husband. Hence 
the word — 

Kaikee = Child, also signifies brother's wife's child; 

and no doubt the wife's sister's child, and the wife's 
brother's wife's child. So also, as the sister is wife to 
the brother-in-law (though not to her brother), and as 
the brother-in-law is husband to his brother's wife, he is 
consequently a father to his brother's children. Hence 
^ Kaikee ' also means ' sister's son ' and ^ brother's son.' 
In fact ' Kaikee ' and * Waheena ' correspond to our 
words ' child ' and ' woman,' and there are apparently 
no words answering to " son,' ' daughter,' * wife,' or 
* husband.' That this does not arise from poverty of 

^ Morgan, Proceedings of the American Association, 1868. 



SOUTH SEA SYSTEM OF RELATIONSHIP 93 

language is evident, because the same system discri- 
minates between other relationships which we do not 
distinguish. 

Perhaps the contrast is most clearly shown in the 
terms for brother-in-law and sister-in-law. 

Thus, when a woman is speaking — 

Sister-in-law = husband's brother's wife = punalua. 

Sister-in-law = husband's sister = kaikoaka. 

But brother-in-law, whether sister's ) . . , _ 

, , T 11 Tj 1 ,1 h = kana, i.e. husband, 

husband or husband s brother J ' 

When, on the contrary, a man is speaking — 

Sister-in-law — wife's sister = waheena, i.e. wife. 
Sister-in-law = brother's wife = waheena, i.e. wife. 

And so — 

Brother-in-law = wife's brother = kaikoaka. 

Brother-in-law = wife's sister's husband = punalua. 

Thus a woman has husbands and sisters-in-law, but 
no brothers-in-law ; a man, on the contrary, has wives 
and brothers-in-law, but no sisters-in-law. The same 
idea runs through all other relationships : cousins, for 
instance, are called brothers and sisters. 

So again, while the Romans distinguished between 
the 

Father's brother = patruus, and the mother^s brother = 

avunculus ; 
Father's sister = amita, and the mother's sister = matertera ; 

the first two in Hawaian are makua kana, which also 
signifies father ; and the last two are makua waheena, 
which also means mother. 



94 SOUTH SEA SYSTEM OF BELATIONSHIP 

In the next chapter I shall enter more at length 
into the subject of Relationships, but my object at 
present is to show that the idea of Marriage does not, in 
fact, enter into the Hawaian system. Uncleship, aunt- 
ship, cousinship, are ignored ; and we have only — 

Grandparents 

Parents 

Brothers and sisters 

Children, and 

Grandchildren. 

This division into generations was no matter of 
mere nomenclature ; but, lax as their ideas appear to 
us in many ways, Mr. Gill, the well-known missionary 
in the South Seas, tells me that in the Henry group 
marriage out of one's generation was strictly forbidden ; 
even when as a mere matter of age it might be quite 
suitable. 

Here, moreover, it is clear that the child is related to 
the group. It is not specially related either to its father 
or its mother, who stand in the same relation as uncles 
and aunts ; so that every child has several fathers 
and several mothers. 

There are, I think, reasons in the social habits of 
these islanders which go far to explain the persistence 
of this archaic nomenclature. From the mildness of the 
climate and the abundance of food, children soon become 
independent ; the prevalence of large houses, used as 
mere dormitories, and the curious prejudice against 
eating in common, must also have greatly tended to 
retard the development of special family feelings. Yet 
the system of nomenclature above mentioned did not 



TOBA SYSTEM OF BELATI0N8HIP 95 

correspond with the actual state of society as found by- 
Captain Cook and other early voyagers. 

Among the Todas of the Neilgherry Hills, however, 
when a man marries a girl she becomes the wife of all 
his brothers as they successively reach manhood, and 
they also become the husbands of all her sisters as they 
become old enough to marry. In this case ' the first- 
' born child is fathered upon the eldest brother, the 
' next-born on the second, and so on throughout the 
' series. Notwithstanding this unnatural system, the 
' Todas, it must be confessed, exhibit much fondness 
' and attachment towards their offspring, more so than 
^ their practice of mixed intercourse would seem to 
' foster.' 1 

In the Tottiyars of India, also, we have a case in 
which it is recorded that ' brothers, uncles, and 
' nephews hold their wives in common.' ^ So also, 
according to Nicolaus,^ the Galactophagi had commu- 
nal marriage, ' where they called all old men fathers, 
^ young men sons, and those of equal age brothers.' 
^ Among the Sioux and some other North American 
' tribes the custom is to buy the eldest of the chiefs 
' daughters ; then the others all belong to him, and are 
' taken to wife at such times as the husband sees fit.' ^ 

Such social conditions as these tend to exj^lain the 
frequency of adoption among the lower races of men, 
and the fact that it is often considered to be as close a 
connection as real parentage. Among the Esquimaux, 
Captain Lyon tells us that ' this curious connection 

^ Sliortt, Trans. Etlm. Soc, ^ Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht, 

N.S., vol. vii p. 240. p. 21. 

2 Dubois' Descrip. of the People ^ Ethn. Joui-nal, 1869, p. 286. 
of India, p. 3. 



96 FEEVALENCE OF AFOFTION 

* binds the parties as firmly together as the ties of 
' blood ; and an adopted son, if senior to one by nature, 
^ is the heir to all the family riches.' ^ 

In Central Africa, Denham states that ' the practice 
^ of adopting children is very prevalent among the 
' Felatahs, and, though they have sons and daughters of 
' their own, the adopted child generally becomes heir 
Ho the whole property.'^ In Madagascar^ also Hhe 
' adoption of other children, generally those of relatives,. 
' is of frequent occurrence. These children are regarded 
^ in every respect as if they were born of their adopted 
' parents, and their real father and mother give up all 

* claim to them.' 

Ht is a custom,' says Mariner,^ ' in the Tonga 

* Islands, for women to be what they call mothers to 
' children or grown-up young persons who are not their 
^ own, for the purpose of providing them, or seeing that 
' they are provided, with all the conveniences of life ; ' 
this is often done even if the natural mother be still 
living, in which case the adopted mother ' is regarded 
' the same as the natural mother.' The same custom 
also existed in Samoa,^ the Marquesas, and other Pacific 
Islands.^ Among the Romans, also, adoption was an 
important feature, and was effected by the symbol of a 
mock birth, without which it was not regarded as com- 
plete. This custom seems to have continued down to 
the time of Nerva, who, in adopting Trajan, transferred 



1 Journal, p. 353. See 365. * Mariner's Tonga Islands, vol. ii. 

~ Denliam's Travels in Africa, p. 98. 
vol. iv. p. 131. 5 Nineteen Years in Polynesia, 

^ Sibree's Madagascar and its p . 179. 
People, p. 197. ^ Gerland,Waitz' Anthropologic, 

vol. vi. p. 216. 



THE MILK-TIE 97 

the ceremony from the marriage-bed to the temple of 
Jupiter.^ Diodorus ^ gives a very curious account of 
the same custom as it existed among the Greeks, men- 
tioning that Juno adopted Hercules by going through 
a ceremony of mock birth. To this day, in some Con- 
tinental codes, adoption gives the right of inheritance.^ 

In other cases the symbol of adoption represented 
not the birth, but the milk, tie. Thus, in Circassia, 
the woman offered her breast to the person she was 
adopting. In Abyssinia, Parkyn tells us that ' if a man 
' wishes to be adopted as the son of one of superior 
' station or influence, he takes his hand, and, sucking 
' one of his fingers, declares himself to be his " child by 
' " adoption," and his new father is bound to assist .him 
^ as far as he can.' ^ 

Among some races marriage between foster children 
is strictly forbidden. 

The same idea of adoption underlies, perhaps, the 
curious Esquimaux habit of licking anything which is 
presented to them, apparently in token of ownership.^ 
Dieffenbach^ also mentions the practice of licking a 
present in New Zealand ; here, however, it is the donor 
who does so. In the Tonga Islands, Captaui Cook tells 
us that the natives ^ have a singular custom of putting 
' everything you give them to their heads, by way of 
^thanks, as we conjectured.'^ Labillardiere observed 
the same practice in Tasmania.® 

1 Miiller,DasMutterrecht,p.254. vol. i. p. 34. 

2 IV. 39. See Notes. ^ New Zealand, vol. ii. p. 104. 

2 Maine, Early Law and Custom, ^ Voyage towards the South 

p. 96. Pole, vol. i. p. 221. 

* Parkyn's Abyssinia, p. 198. ^ Gerland, Waitz' Anthropolo- 

^ Franklin's Journeys, 1819-22, gie, vol. vi. p. 812. 

H 



98 OBIGINAL OB GOMMUNAL MABBIAGE 

Assuming, then, that the communal marriage system 
shown in the preceding pages to prevail, or have pre- 
vailed, so widely among races in a low stage of civilisa- 
tion, represents the primitive and earliest social con- 
dition of man, we now come to consider the various 
ways in which it may have been broken up and replaced 
by individual marriage. 

Montesquieu lays it down almost as an axiom, that 
* r obligation naturelle qu'a le pere de nourrir ses 
' enfants a fait etablir le mariage, qui declare celui qui 
' doit remplir cette obligation.' ^ Elsewhere he states 
that ' il est arriv6 dans tous les pays et dans tons les 
^ temps que la religion s'est melee des manages.' ^ How 
far these assertions are from the truth will be conclu- 
sively shown in the following pages. 

Bachofen,^ M'Lennan,^ and Morgan, the most recent 
authors who have studied this subject, all agree that 
the primitive condition of man, socially, was one in 
which marriage did not exist, ^ or, as we may perhaps 
for convenience call it, of communal marriage, where 
all the men and women in a small community were 
regarded as equally married to one another. 

Bachofen considers that after a while the women, 
shocked and scandalised by such a state of things, 
revolted against it, and established a system of marriage 
with female supremacy, the husband being subject to 
the wife, property and descent being considered to go 
in the female line, and women enjoying the principal 
share of political power. The first period he calls that 



^ Esprit des Lois, vol.ii. p. 186. * Primitive Marriage." 

* Loc. cit. p. 299. 5 Ibid, xyiii. xix. 

' Das Mutterrecht. 



ORIGIN OF IIABBTAGE 99 

of ^ Hetairism/ the second of ' Mutterrecht,' or ' mother- 
' right.' 

In the third stage he considers that the ethereal 
influence of the father prevailed over the more material 
idea of motherhood. Men claimed pre-eminence, pro- 
perty and descent were traced in the male line, sun 
worship superseded moon worship, and many other 
changes in social organisation took place — mainly 
because it came to be recognised that the creative 
influence of the father was more important than the 
material tie of motherhood. The father, in fact, was 
the author of life, the mother a mere nurse. 

Thus he regards the first stage as lawless, the second 
as material, the third as spiritual. I believe, however, 
that communities in which women have exercised the 
supreme power are rare and exceptional, if indeed they 
ever existed at all. We do not find in history, as a 
matter of fact, that women do assert their rights, and 
savage women would, I think, be peculiarly unlikely to 
uphold their dignity in the manner supposed. On the 
contrary, among the lowest races of men, as, for 
instance, in Australia, the position of the women is one 
of complete subjection ; and it seems to me perfectly 
clear that the idea of marriao-e is founded on the riohts, 
not of the woman, but of the man, being an illustration 

of 

the good old plan, 
That lie should take who has the power, 
And he should keep who can. 

Among low races the wife is indeed literally the 
property of her husband. As Petruchio says of 
Catherine — 

LofC: ^^ 



100 RELATIONSHIP AMONG THE ROMANS 

I will be master of what is mine own. 

Slie is my goods, my chattels ; she is my house^ 

My household stuff, my field, my barn, 

My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything. 

So thoroughly is this the case, that a Roman'^s 
^ family ' originally, and indeed throughout classical 
times, meant his slaves, and the children only formed 
part of the family because they were his slaves ; so that 
if a father freed his son, the latter ceased to be one of 
the family, and had no part in the inheritance. 

* The mere tie of blood relationship,' says Ortolan^ 

^ was of no account among the Romans The 

' most general expression and the most comprehensive 
' term indicating relationship in Roman Law is cognatio 
^ — the cognation, that is to say, the tie between persons 
' who are united by the same blood, or those reputed by 
'the law as such (cognati ; quasi una communiter nati),. 
' But cognation alone, whether it proceeds from legal 
' marriage or any other union, does not place the indi- 
' vidual within the family, nor does it give any right of 
' family.' ^ Even at the present day, in some parts of 
Africa, a man's property goes, not to his children, as 
such, but to his slaves. 

Among the West African tribes of the Gold Coast, 
under ordinary circumstances the wife was the slave of 
her husband, purchased of her father by the dowry, but 
if ' the wife be a woman of free status, who contracts 
' a free union with her husband, not only are her children 
' not his slaves, but neither she nor they become mem- 
' bers of his family.' ^ 

^ Ortolan's History of Rom an Law, ^ Foreign Office Despatch, Aug.. 

tr, by Pricha,rd and Nasmith, p. 129. 21, 1874. 



WRESTLING FOB WIVES 101 

The fact that the wife is regarded literally as the 
property of the husband explains those cases which seem 
to us so remarkable, in which great laxity of conduct 
before, is combined with the utmost strictness after, 
marriage. Hence, also, the custom, so prevalent among 
the lower races of men, that on the death of the elder 
brother the wives belong to the second. 

This complete subjection of the woman in marriage 
also explains those cases in which women of rank were 
considered too great to marry. Livingstone distinctly 
states this in the case of Mamochisane, daughter of 
Sebituane, chief of the Bechuanas. Sebituane ' could 
^ not look upon the husband except as the woman's 
^ lord, so he told her all the men were hers, she might 
^ take any one, but ought to keep none.' ^ 

Hearne tells us, that among the Hudson's Bay 
Indians ' it has ever been the custom for the men to 
' wrestle for any woman to whom they are attached ; 
' and, of course, the strongest party always carries off 
^ the prize. A weak man, unless he be a good hunter 
^ and well-beloved, is seldom permitted to keep a wife 
^ that a stronger man thinks worth his notice. . . . 
^ This custom prevails throughout all their tribes, and 
^causes a great spirit of emulation among their youth, 
^ who are upon all occasions, from their childhood, trying 
' their strength and skill in wrestling.' ^ Franklin also 
says that the Copper Indians hold women in the same 
low estimation as the Chipewyans do, 'looking upon 
' them as a kind of property, which the stronger may 

^ Travels in South Africa, p. Tuckey's Exp. to the River Zaire, 
179. See also Burton's Dahomey, p. 140. 
vol. i. pp. 107, 366; vol. ii. p. 72. 2 Hearne, p. 104. 



102 M'LENNAN'S VIEWS 

' take from the weaker ; ' ^ and Richardson^ 'more than 
' once saw a stronger man assert his right to take the 
' wife of a weaker countryman. Anyone may challenge 
' another to wrestle, and, if he overcomes, may carry off 
' the wife as the prize.' Yet the women never dream 
of protesting against this, which, indeed, seems to them 
perfectly natural. The theory, therefore, of Dr. Bacho- 
fen, and the sequence of social customs suggested by 
him, although supported with much learning, cannot, I 
think, be regarded as correct.^ 

M'Lennan, like Bachofen and Morgan, starts with a 
stage of Hetairism or communal marriage. The next 
stage was, in his opinion, that form of polyandry in 
which brothers had their wives in common ; afterwards 
came that of the levirate, i.e. the system under which, 
when an elder brother died, his second brother married 
the widow, and so on with the others in succession. 
Thence he considers that some tribes branched off into 
endogamy, others into exogamy ; ^ that is to say, some 
forbade marriage out of, others within, the tribe. If 
either of these two systems was older than the other, 
he considers that exogamy must have been the more 
ancient. Exogamy was based on infanticide,^ and led 
to the practice of marriage by capture.^ 

In a further stage the idea of female descent, pro- 
ducing as it would a division in the tribe, obviated the 
necessity of capture as a reality and reduced it to a 
symbol, 

1 Journey to tlie Shores of the Tracts of Chittagong, pp. 47, 77, 80, 

Polar Seas, vol. viii. p. 43. 93, 98, 101. 

^ Richardson's Boat Journey, * I^oc. cit. p. 145. 

vol. ii. p. 24. * Loc, cit. p. 138. 

^ See, for instance, Lewin's Hill ^ Loc. dt. p. 140. 



THE TEUE EXPLANATION 103 

In support of this view, Mr. M'Lennan has certainly- 
brought forward many striking facts ; but, while ad- 
mitting that it probably represents the succession of 
events in some cases, I cannot but think that these are 
exceptional. Exogamy is in fact often associated with 
polygamy, which under Mr. M'Lennan's system could 
not well be. 

Fully admitting the prevalence of infanticide among 
savages, it will, I think, be found that among the 
lowest races boys were killed as frequently as girls. 
Eyre expressly states that this was the case in 
Australia.^ In fact, the distinction between the sexes 
implies an amount of forethought and prudence which 
the lower races of men do not possess. 

For reasons to be given in the next chapter, I be- 
lieve that communal marriage was gradually superseded 
by individual marriage founded on capture, and that 
this led firstly to exogamy and then to female infanti- 
cide ; thus reversing M'Lennan's order of sequence. 
Endogamy and regulated polyandry, though frequent, 
I regard as exceptional, and as not entering into the 
normal progress of development. 

^ Discoveries, &c., vol. ii. p. 324. 



104 



CHAPTER lY. 

THE ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE. 

THE evidence given in tlie preceding chapter, and 
which might have been much increased, seems to 
me to prove, and indeed it is now admitted by most 
of those who have studied the subject, that there was a 
time when individual marriage did not exist, and when 
mankind lived in a state of what I have suggested we 
might call communal marriage. 

The curious Australian marriage laws, under which 
marriage between members of the same clan is strictly 
forbidden, but on the other hand every man is legally 
and technically the husband of every woman belonging 
to some one or more other clans, have been already 
mentioned on p. 90. 

It has been supposed by some that an extension of 
these restrictions might gradually lead up to individual 
marriage, but this is not so, because a development of 
the Austrahan rules would always result in the marriage, 
not of individuals, but of classes — however much the 
class might be reduced by subdivision, the wives would 
remain in common within the gens. 

Such arrangements may be, and in some tribes no 
doubt are, the nearest approach to what we call marriage, 
but a husband in this sense is very different from a 
husband in ours. He has not the exclusive right to 
a particular woman, which is in our idea the essence of 



th:e] origin of mabbiage 105 

matrimony, and the existence of which is just what we 
have to account for.-^ Speaking generally, however, we 
find in Australia, side by side with these class mar- 
riages, the presence also of individual marriage. Though 
the same word has been generally used in both cases, it 
is evident that the relationship is really very different. 

' In the following pages,' say Messrs. Fison and 
Howitt,^ ' the words marriage, husband, wife, and indeed 
' all the terms of kinship, are used in a certam accom- 
^modated sense. Husband and wife are not neces- 
^ sarily man and wife according to our ideas. " My 

* " husband," for instance, among tribes such as the Aus- 

* tralian, does not necessarily single out any one man in 

* particular. A woman may apply it to any one of a 
' group of tribal brothers who have the right of taking 
^ her to wife.' 

The question then is. How did individual marriage 
take its origin ? 

The theory I have ventured to suggest as regards 
the former question is, that originally no man could 
appropriate any woman of his own tribe exclusively 
to himself, nor could any woman dedicate herself to 
one man, without infringing tribal rights ; but that, on 
the other hand, if a man captured a woman belonging 
to another tribe he thereby acquired an individual and 
peculiar right to her, and she became his exclusively, 
no one else having any claim or property in her. Thus, 
then, the women in such a community would fall into 
two classes : The one, subject no doubt to the disad- 
vantage of being aliens, and so to say slaves, but yet 

^ See Lubbock on Australian ^ The Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 

Marriage Customs, J. Anthr. Inst. p. 28. 
1885. 



106 PROBABLE OBIGIN OF MABBIAGE 

enjoying the protection, and in many cases having 
secured the aiFection, of one man. The other, nominally 
no doubt free, but in the first place subject to the 
attentions of all their tribesmen — attentions no doubt 
often very unwelcome, but yet which could not be 
rejected without giving bitter offence ; and in the 
second without any claim on any one specially for 
food, shelter, and protection. 

It seems to me that under such circumstances many 
women belonging to the latter class would long to 
exchange their nominal freedom, and hazardous privi- 
leges, for the comparative peace and security of the 
former. On the other hand, many men would desire 
to appropriate exclusively to themselves some woman of 
their own tribe by whom they were specially attracted. 
Hence would naturally arise a desire on the part of 
many to extend the right of capture, which originally 
had reference only to women of a different tribe, and 
to apply it to all those belonging to their own. 

As a matter of fact, we find in Australia, side by side 
with the division of the tribes into classes or ' gentes ' 
and the custom that all the men are regarded as 
possessing marital rights over all the women of some 
one, or more, of the other classes, the existence also of 
individual marriage ; one man and one woman especially 
connected together as in more civilised communities. 
The words husband and wife have been usually applied to 
both of these cases. At the same time, whether we apply 
the same word in both relationships or not, we must not 
lose sight of the fact that the two are very different,^ 

^ It would be convenient, I think, to say, for instance, tliat a woman 
to use some sucli term as the New was ' noa ' to a particular gens or 
Zealand ^noa,' in the former case, and gentes, and wife to a particular man. 



TWO FORMS OF MABBIAGF IN AUSTRALIA 107 

and it is this latter or true marriage to which my sug- 
gestion refers. 

It must not, however, be considered that the right 
to take any woman belonging to another class was 
originally a concession. The true process was in the 
reverse order, and the forbidding to take a woman of 
the man's own class must be regarded as a restriction. 
There are not wanting traditions of a time when this 
restriction did not exist. But, however this may be, 
we have complete and conclusive evidence that in large 
portions of Australia every man had the privilege of a 
husband over every woman not belonging to his own 
gens ; sharing of course those privileges with every 
other man belonging to the same class or gens as 
himself. 

But although we may call this ' marriage ' — and it 
is a right which in old times was, and to a certain extent 
still is, recognised as perfectly legal and respectable — 
it does not help us to the origin of individual marriage. 

In addition to the 1,000 miles of wives so forcibly 
described by Messrs. Fison and Howitt, the Australian 
had his own individual wife. How does he acquire a 
special right to her ? I have argued that this was 
originally by right of capture ; Messrs. Fison and 
Howitt deny this. But let us see what they say them- 
selves a few pages further on. In describing the 
habits of the Kiirnai they come to his marriage. How 
does he procure his wife ? ' The young Kiirnai,' says 
Mr. Fison,^ ' could, as a rule, acquire a wife in one way 
'only. He must run away with her. ... It is no 
' use his asking for a wife excepting under the most 

^ Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 200. 



108 AUSTRALIAN MABBIAGE CUSTOMS 

' exceptional circumstances, for he could only acquire 
^ one in the usual manner, and that was by running off 

* with her.' 

As regards the Geawe-gal tribe, they say, ' In the 
' case of female captives, they belonged to their captors, 
4f of a class from which wives might be legally taken 
' by them. If of a forbidden class, then I think that 

* the captor might make an exchange with some one of 
' the proper class who had a woman at his disposal. 

* In the Wonghi tribe, whose territory was situated on 
' the north side of the Lachlan River, for about eighty 
' miles above Whealbah, a woman was the property of 
' her captor when she was not of a tribe forbidden to 
' him,' i.e. if she did not belong to a gens with which it 
was unlawful for him to intermarry. 

Speaking of the Turras, another Australian tribe, 
they say, ' There is individual marriage. Consent of 

* the woman's parents is necessary before marriage ; if 
' this is refused, the pair occasionally elope. Wives are 
\ also obtained by gift, exchange, or capture. A female 

* captive belonged to the captor.' Again, the Kamilaroi 
have ' the right to the female captive, controlled by the 
' exogamous rule of marriage.' Indeed, speaking gener- 
ally, they observe, ' that marriage is brought about 
' throughout Australia by capture is quite certain.' 

It is obvious, indeed, that even under a communal 
marriage, a warrior who had captured a beautiful girl 
in some marauding expedition would claim a peculiar 
right to her, and, when possible, would set custom at 
defiance. We have already seen that there are other 
cases of the existence of marriage under two forms side 
by side in one country ; and there is, therefore, no real 



TEE TRUE EXPLANATION 10^ 

difficulty in assuming the co-existence of communal 
and individual marriage. It is true that under a com- 
munal marriage system no man could appropriate a girl 
entirely to himself without infringing the rights of the 
whole tribe. Such an act would naturally be looked 
on with jealousy, and only regarded as justifiable under 
peculiar circumstances. A war- captive, however, was 
in a peculiar position : the tribe had no right to her ; 
her capturer might have killed her if he chose ; if he 
preferred to keep her alive he was at liberty to do so ; 
he did as he liked, and the tribe was no sufferer. On 
the other hand, if a marriage system had already existed, 
it is unlikely that the first wives would have suffered 
a mere captive to obtain the same station as them- 
selves.-^ 

M'Lennan,^ indeed, says that ' it is impossible to 
' believe that the mere lawlessness of savages should be 
' consecrated into a legal symbol, or to assign a reason 
' — could this be believed — why a similar symbol should 
' not appear in transferences of other kmds of property. '^ 
The symbol of capture, however, was not one of law- 
lessness, but, on the other hand, of — according to the 
ideas of the times — lawful possession. It did not refer 
to those from whom the captive was taken, but was- 
intended to bar the rights of the tribes into which she 
was introduced. Individual marriage was, in fact, an 
infringement of communal rights ; the man retaining to 
himself, or the man and woman mutually appropriat- 
ing to each other, that which previously belonged to- 

^ I am glad to find that Mr. H. accept my sug-gestious as to com- 
Spencer, in his Principles of Socio- munal marriage, or as to the rights- 
logy, p. 650 et seq., endorses this of men within the tribe, 
view, though he does not altogether ^ Loc. cit. p. 44. 



110 OEIGIN OF MABBIAGE BY GAPTUBE 

the whole tribe. Thus, among the Andamaners, any 
woman who attempted to resist the marital privileges 
claimed by any member of the tribe was liable to severe 
punishment.^ 

ISTor is it, I think, difficult to understand why the 
symbol of capture does not appear in transferences of 
other kinds of property. Every generation requires 
fresh wives ; the actual capture, or at any rate the 
symbol, needed therefore repetition. This, however, 
does not apply to land ; when once the idea of landed 
property arose, the same land descended from owner to 
owner. In other kinds of property, again, there is an 
important, though different kind of, distinction. A 
man made his own bow and arrows, his own hut, his 
own arms ; hence the necessity of capture did not exist, 
and the symbol would not arise. 

McLennan supposed that savages were driven by 
female infanticide, and the consequent absence or pau- 
city of women, into exogamy and marriage by capture. 
He considered that the ' practice of capturing women 
' for wives could not have become systematic unless it 
* were developed and sustained by some rule of law or 
^ custom,' and ' that the rule of law or custom which 
^ had this effect was exogamy.' ^ 

I shall presently give my reasons for rejecting this 
explanation. He also considers that marriage by capture 
followed, and arose from, that remarkable custom of 
marrying always out of the tribe, for which he has pro- 
posed the appropriate name of exogamy. On the con- 
trary, I believe that exogamy arose from marriage by 

1 Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. ii. ^ j ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^.^^ ^^^ article in 

p. 35. the Fortnightly for June 1877. 



OBIGIN OF MABEIAGE BY CABTUBB 111 

capture, not marriage by capture froui exogamy ; that 
capture, and capture almost alone, could originally give 
a man the right to monopolise a woman, to the exclu- 
sion of his fellow- clansmen ; and that hence, even after 
all necessity for actual capture had long ceased, the 
symbol remained ; capture having, by long habit, come 
to be received as a necessary preliminary to marriage. 

That marriage by capture has not arisen from female 
modesty is, I think, evident not only because we have 
no reason to suppose that such a feeling prevails spe- 
cially among the lower races of man, but also, firstly, 
because it cannot explain the mock resistance of the 
relatives ; and, secondly, because the very question to 
be solved is why it became so generally the custom to 
win the female not by persuasion but by force, 

M'Lennan's view throws no light on the remarkable 
ceremonies of expiation for marriage, to which I shall 
presently call attention. I will, however, first proceed 
to show how widely ' capture,' either actual or symboli- 
cal, enters into the idea of marriage. M'Lennan was, 
I believe, the first to appreciate its importance. I have 
taken some of the following instances from his valuable 
work, with, however, much additional evidence. 

It requires, no doubt, strong evidence, which, how- 
ever, exists in abundance, to satisfy us that the origin 
of marriage was independent of all sacred and social 
considerations ; that it had nothing to do with mutual 
afi'ection or sympathy ; that it was invalidated by any 
appearance of consent ; and that it was symbolised, not 
by any demonstration of warm aficction on the one side 
and tender devotion on the other, but by brutal violence 
and unwilling submission. 



112 MABBIAOE BY CAPTUBE OBIGINALLY A BEALITY 

Yet, as already mentioned, the evidence is over- 
whelming. So completely, for instance, did the Caribs 
supply themselves with wives from the neighbouring 
races, and so little communication did they hold with 
them, that the men and women actually spoke different 
languages. So, again, in Australia the men, says Old- 
field, ' are in excess of the other sex, and, consequently, 
' many men of every tribe are unprovided with that 
' especial necessary to their comfortable subsistence, a 
' wife — who is a slave in the strictest sense of the word, 
' being a beast of burden, a provider of food, and a 
' ready object on which to vent those passions that the 
' men do not dare to vent on each other. Hence, for 
' those coveting such a luxury, arises the necessity of 
^ stealing the women of some other tribe ; and, in their 

* expeditions to effect so laudable a design, they will 

* cheerfully undergo privations and dangers equal to 
' those they incur when in search of blood-revenge. 

* When, on such an errand, they discover an unprotected 
' female, their proceedings are not of the most gentle 
' nature. Stunning her by a blow from the dowak (to 
' make her love them, perhaps), they drag her by the 
' hair to the nearest thicket to await her recovery. 
' When she comes to her senses they force her to 
^ accompany them ; and, as at worst it is but the ex- 
' change of one brutal lord for another, she generally 
^ enters into the spirit of the affair, and takes as much 
' pains to escape as though it were a matter of her own 
' free choice.' ^ 

Collins thus describes the manner in which the na- 
tives about Sydney used to procure wives : — ' The poor 

1 Trans. Ethn. Soc, vol. iii. p. 250. 



SUBSEQUENTLY A FORM 113 

* wretcli is stolen upon in the absence of her protectors. 
^ Being first stupefied with blows, inflicted with clubs 
' or wooden swords, on the head, back, and shoulders, 
^ every one of which is followed by a stream of blood, 
^ she is then dragged through the woods by one arm, 

* with a perseverance and violence that it might be sup- 
^ posed would displace it from its socket. This outrage 
' is not resented by the relations of the female, who 

* only retaliate by a similar outrage when they find an 
' opportunity.' ^ 

Marriage by capture is the third form of marriage / 
specially recognised by ancient Hindoo law.^ 

In Bali also,^ one of the islands between Java and 
New Guinea, it is stated to be the practice that girls 
' are stolen away by their brutal lovers, who sometimes 
' surprise them alone, or overpower them by the way, 
' and carry them off w^ith dishevelled hair and tattered 

* garments to the woods. When brought back from 
^ thence, and reconciliation is effected with enraged 
' friends, the poor female becomes the slave of her 
^ rough lover, by a certain compensation -price being paid 
' to her relatives.' 

So deeply rooted is the feeling of a connection 
between force and marriage that we find the former 
used as a form long after all necessity for it had ceased ; 
and it is very interesting to trace, as Mr. M'Lennan 
has done, the gradual stages through which a stern 
reality softens down into a mere symbol. 

It is easy to see that if we assume the case of a 



1 Collins's Englisli Colony in Aryas, p. 127. 
New South Wales, p. 362. ^ Notices of the Indian Archi- 

^ Biihler's Sacred Books of the pelago, p. 90. 



114 BINDOSTAN 

country in which there are four neighbouring tribes^ 
who have the custom of exogamy, and who trace pedi- 
grees through the mother, and not through the father 

a custom which, as we shall presently find, is so 

common that it may be said to be the usual one among 
the lower races — after a certain time the result would 
be that each tribe would consist of four septs or clans, 
representmg the four original tribes, and hence we 
should find communities in which each tribe is divided 
into clans, and a man must always marry a woman of 
a different clan. But as communities became larger 
and more civilised the actual ^ capture ' would become 
inconvenient, and at last impossible. 

Gradually, therefore, it came to be more and more a 
mock ceremony, forming, however, a necessary part of 
the marriage ceremony. Of this many cases might be 
given. 

Speaking of the Khonds of Orissa, Major-General 
Campbell says that on one occasion he ' heard loud cries 
^ proceeding from a village close at hand. Fearing some 
' quarrel, I rode to the spot, and there I saw a man 
' bearing away upon his back something enveloped in 
^ an ample covering of scarlet cloth ; he was surrounded 
' by twenty or thirty young fellows, and by them pro- 
' tected from the desperate attacks made upon him by 
' a party of young women. On seeking an explanation 
' of this novel scene, I was told that the man had just 
' been married, and his precious burden was his bloom- 

* ing bride, whom he was conveying to his own village. 
' Her youthful friends (as it appears is the custom)' 

* were seeking to regain possession of her, and hurled 
^ stones and bamboos at the head of the devoted. 



CENTRAL INDIA 115 

^ bridegroom, until he reached the confines of his own 
' village.' ^ 

Dalton mentions that among the Kols of Central 
India, when the price of a girl has been arranged, 
' the bridegroom and a large party of his friends 
' of both sexes enter wdth much singing and dancing, 
' and sham fighting in the village of the bride, where 
' they meet the bride's party, and are hospitably enter- 
' tained.' ^ 

Sir W. Elliot also mentions that not only amongst 
the Khonds, but also in ' several other tribes of Central 
' India, the bridegroom seizes his bride by force, either 
' affected or real ; ' ^ and the same was customary 
among the Badagas of the Neilgherry Hills, the Mun- 
dahs, Hos, Garos, Oraons, Ghonds, and other Hill tribes.^ 

Among the Garos a young man and woman who 
wish to marry take some provisions and retire to the 
Hills for a few days. The girl goes first, and the lover 
follows after, well knowing, of course, where she will be 
found. In a few days they return to the village, when 
the marriage is publicly announced and solemnised, a 
mock fight taking place, though in this case the pre- 
tended reluctance is on the part of the bridegroom.^ 
In this tribe the girls propose to the men, as is also 
said to be the case among the Bhiuyas.^ 

In parts of the Punjab,^ 'when the bridegroom's 

1 Quoted in M'Lennan's Primi- * Metz, The Tribes of the Neil- 
tive Marriage, p. 28. gherries, p. 74. See also Lewin's 

2 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vi. p. 24. Hill Tracts of Chittagong, pp. 36, 80. 
See also p. 27 ; the Trihes of India, ^ Dalton's Des, Ethn. of Bengal, 
vol. i. p. 15 ; and Dalton's Des. p. 64. 

Ethnology of Bengal, pp. 64, 86, ^ Loe. cit. p. 142. 

193, 252, 278, 319. ' Tupper's Punjab Customary 

3 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1869, p. 325. Law. 

i2 



116 MALAY PENINSULA— KALMUCKS 

* party goes to bring the bride from her father's house, 
' they are met by a party of the bride's friends and rela- 
^ tions, who stop the path. Hereupon a sham fight of a 
' very rough description ensues, in which the bridegroom 

* and his friends, before they are allowed to pass, are well 

* drubbed with good thick switches.' 

M. Bourien ^ thus describes the marriage ceremony 
among the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula : — ' When 
^ all are assembled, and all ready, the bride and bride- 
^ groom are led by one of the old men of the tribe 

* towards a circle more or less great, according to the 
' presumed strength of the intended pair ; the girl 
' runs round first, and the young man pursues a short 

* distance behind ; if he succeeds in reaching her and 
' retaining her, she becomes his wife ; if not, he loses 

* all claim to her. At other times, a larger field is 
' appointed for the trial, and they pursue one another 

* in the forest. The race, according to the words of the 
^ chronicle, " is not to the swift, nor the battle to the 
' '' strong," but to the young man who has had the good 
^ fortune to please the intended bride.' 

Among the Kalmucks, De Hell tells us that, after 
the price of the girl has been duly agreed on, when the 
bridegroom comes with his friends to carry oiF his 
bride, ' a sham resistance is always made by the people 

* of her camp, in spite of which she fails not to be borne 
^ away on a richly caparisoned horse, with loud shouts 
^ and feu de joie.' ^ 

Dr. Clarke^ gives a romantic account of the cere- 

1 Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1865, p. 81. ^ Travels, vol. i. p. 332. See 

® Steppes of the Caspian, p. 259. also Vambery's Travels in Central 

Quoted in M'Lennan's Primitive Asia, p. 323. Burnes' Travels in 

Marriage, p. 30. Bokhara, pp. 11, 56. 



TUNGU8E8—KAMGHADALES 1 L 7 

mony. ' The girl/ he says, ' is first mounted, who 
^ rides off at full speed. Her lover pursues ; if he 
' overtakes her, she becomes his wife, and the marriage 
^ is consummated on the spot ; after this she returns 
^ with him to his tent. But it sometimes happens that 
' the woman does not wish to marry the person by 
' whom she is pursued ; in this case, she will not suffer 
' him to overtake her. We were assured that no ui- 

* stance occurs of a Kalmuck girl being thus caught, 

* unless she have a partiality to the pursuer. If she 
^ dislikes him, she rides, to use the language of English 
' sportsmen, " neck or nought," until she has completely 

* effected her escape, or until her pursuer's horse be- 

* comes exhausted, leaving her at liberty to return, 
' and to be afterwards chased by some more favoured 

* admirer.' 

' Among the Tunguses and Kamchadales,' says 
Ernan,^ ' a matrimonial engagement is not definitely 
' arranged and concluded until the suitor has got the 

* better of his beloved by force, and has torn her 
^ clothes.' Attacks on women are not allowed to be 
avenged by blood unless they take place within the 
yourt or house. The man is not regarded as to blame 
if the woman ' has ventured to leave her natural place, 

* the sacred and protecting hearth.' Pallas observes 
that in his time 'marriage by capture prevailed also 
' among the Samoyedes.' ^ At present the custom is 
for the bridegroom to tap the father and the mother of 

^ Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. p. "-^ Vol. iv. p. 97. See also Ast- 

442. See also Karnes' History of ley's Collections of Voyages, vol. iv. 
Man, vol. ii. p. 58. p. 575. 



118 MONGOLS— K0BEAN8— ESQUIMAUX 

the bride on the shoulder with, a small stick — the last 
trace of an ancient reality.-^ 

Among the Mongols,'^ when a marriage is arranged, 
the girl 'flies to some relations to hide herself. The 

* bridegroom coming to demand his wife, the father-in- 
^ law says, " My daughter is yours ; go, take her wher- 

* " ever you can find her." Having thus obtained his 
^ warrant, he, with his friends, runs about searching, 
^ and, having found her, seizes her as his property, and 
^ carries her home as it were by force.' Marriage by 
capture, indeed, prevails throughout Siberia. In Kam- 
skatka, says Mliller, ' attraper une fille est leur ex- 

* pression pour dire marier.' ^ 

' In the Korea, when a man marries, he mounts on 

* horseback, attended by his friends, and, having ridden 
' about the town, stops at the bride's door, where he is 
^ received by her relations, who then carry her to his 
^ house, and the ceremony is complete.' * Traces of the 
custom also occur in Japan.^ 

Among the Esquimaux of Cape York (Smith Sound), 
according to Dr. Hayes,^ ' there is no marriage cere- 

* mony further than that the boy is required to carry 

* off his bride by main force ; for, even among these 
^ blubber- eating people, the woman only saves her 
^ modesty by a sham resistance, although she knows 

* years beforehand that her destiny is sealed, and that 

* she is to become the wife of the man from whose 



^ Seebohm, Siberia in Europe, See also pt. i. p. 170 ; pt. iii. pp. 
p. 74. 38, 71. 

2 Astley, vol. iv. p. 77. * Ibid. p. 342. 

^ Des. de toutes les Nations de ^ Le Japon lUustre, vol. ii. p. 

I'Empire de Eussie, pt. ii. p. 89. 130. 

6 Open Polar Sea, p. 432. 



NORTH AMERICA 119 

* embraces, when the nuptial day comes, she is obliged 
^ by the inexorable law of public opinion to free herself, 

* if possible, by kicking and screaming with might and 
' main, until she is safely landed in the hut of her future 
^ lord, when she gives up the combat very cheerfully 
^ and takes possession of her new abode.' 

In Greenland, according to Egede, ' when a young 
^ man likes a maiden, he commonly proposes it to their 

* parents and relations on both sides ; and, after he has 
' obtained their consent, he gets two or more old women 

* to fetch the bride (and if he is a stout fellow he will 

* fetch her himself). They go to the place where the 
^ young woman is, and carry her away by force.' ^ 

We have already seen (p. 101) that marriage by 
capture exists in full force among the Northern Red- 
skins. Further south in California, ' when an Oleepa 
' lover wishes to marry, he first obtains permission from 
^ the parents. The damsel then flies and conceals her- 
' self; the lover searches for her, and, should he succeed 

* in findino; her twice out of three times, she belono's to 
' him. Should he be unsuccessful, he waits a few weeks 
^ and then repeats the performance. If she again elude 
' his search, the matter is decided against him.' ^ 

Among the Mosquito Indians also, after the wed- 
ding is all arranged and the presents paid, the bride is 
arrayed in her best, and the bridegroom on a given 
signal rushes in, seizes his bride, and carries her oiF, 
followed by her female relatives, who pretend to try to 
rescue her.^ 



^ History of Greenland, p. 143. ^ Bancroft, Native Races of the 

Crantz, Hist, of Greenland, vol. i. p. Pacific States, p. 389. 
158. • ^ J^oc. cit. p. 733. 



120 SOUTH AMERICA— FIJIAN8 

The aborigines of the Amazon Valley, says Wallace,^ 
' have no particular ceremony at their marriages, except 
^ that of always carr3ring away the girl by force, or 
' making a show of doing so, even when she and her 

* parents are quite willing.' M. Bardel, in the notes to 
D'Urville's Yoyage, mentions that among the Indians 
round Conception, in South America, after a man has 
agreed on the price of a girl with her parents, he sur- 
prises her, and carries her off to the woods for a few 
days, after which the happy couple return home.'^ 

In Tierra del Fuego, as Admiral Fitzroy tells us,^ 
as soon ' as a youth is able to maintain a wife by his 
' exertions in fishing or bird- catching, he obtains the 
' consent of her relations, and .... having built or 
•^ stolen a canoe for himself, he watches for an oppor- 
' tunity, and carries off his bride. If she is unwilling 
^ she hides herself ui the woods until her admirer is 
Vheartily tired of looking for her, and gives up the 
^ pursuit ; but this seldom happens.' 

Williams mentions that among the Fijians the cus- 
tom prevails ^ of seizing upon a woman by apparent 
' or actual force, in order to make her a wife. On 
' reaching the home of her abductor, should she not 
' approve of the match, she runs to some one who can 
' protect her ; if, however, she is satisfied, the matter is 
' settled forthwith ; a feast is given to her friends the 
' next morning, and the couple are thenceforward con- 

* sidered as man and wife.' * 

Earle ^ gives the following account of marriage in 

^ Travels in the Amazons, p. 497. * Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. 

2 Vol. iii. pp. 277 and 22. 174. 

5 Voyage of the ^Adventure' and ^ Residence in New Zealand, p» 

'Beagle,'Tol. ii. p. 182. 244. 



POLYNESIANS— TSILIFFINE ISLANDERS 121 

ISTew Zealand, which he regards as ' most extraordmary/ 
while in reality it is, as we now see, nothing of the 
sort : — ' The New Zealand method of courtship and 
' matrimony is,' he says, ' most extraordinary ; so much 
' so that an observer could never imagine any affection 
' existed between the parties. A man sees a woman 
' whom he fancies he should like for a wife ; he asks the 
' consent of her father, or, if an orphan, of her nearest 
' relation ; which, if he obtains, he carries his " intended " 
'off by force, she resisting with all her strength ; and, 
' as the New Zealand girls are generally pretty robust, 
' sometimes a dreadful struggle takes place ; both are 
' soon stripped to the skin ; and it is sometimes the 
' work of hours to remove the fair prize a hundred 
' yards. If she breaks away she instantly flies from her 
^ antagonist, and he has his labour to commence again.' 

Even after a marriage, it is customary in New Zea- 
land to have a mock scufHe. Mr. Yate ^ gives a good 
illustration. There was, he says, ' a little opposition to 
' the wedding, but not till it was over, as is always the 
' custom here. The bride's mother came to me the 
' preceding afternoon, and said she was well pleased in 
' her heart that her daughter was going to be married 
' to Pahau ; but that she must be angry about it with 
' her mouth in the presence of her tribe, lest the natives 
^ should come and take away all her possessions, and 
' destroy her crops. This is customary on all occasions.' 

Among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, when 
a man wishes to marry a girl, her parents send her 
before sunrise into the Avoods. She has an hour's start, 
after which the lover goes to seek her. If he finds her 

^ Yate's New Zealand, p. 96. 



122 NEGBIT08—AFBICA 

and brings her back before sunset, the marriage is 
acknowledged ; if not, he must abandon all claim to 
her.^ The natives of New Guinea also have a very 
similar custom.^ 

Among the Kaffirs marriage is an affair of purchase, 
notwithstandiug which ' the bridegroom is required to 
' carry off his bride by force, after the preliminaries are 
' completed. This is attempted by the help of all the 
' friends and relatives that the man can muster, and 
' resisted by the friends and relatives of the woman ; 
' and the contest now and then terminates in the dis- 

* comfiture of the unlucky husband, who is reduced to 
' the necessity of waylaying his wife, when she may 
^ be alone in the fields or fetching water from the well.'^ 

In the West African kingdom of Futa,^ after all 
other preliminaries are arranged, ' one difficulty yet 

* remains, viz. how the young man shall get his wife 
' home ; for the women-cousins and relations take on 
' mightily, and guard the door of the house to prevent 
' her being carried away. At last, by the bridegroom's 
' presents and generosity, their grief is assuaged. He 
' then provides a friend, well mounted, to carry her off ; 
' but as soon as she is on horseback the women renew 
' their lamentations, and rush in to dismount her. 
' However, the man is generally successful, and rides 
' off with his prize to the house prepared for her.' 

Gray mentions^ that a Mandingo (West Africa), 

^ Earl's Native Races of the Good Hope, p. 249; and Maclean's 

Indian Archipelago, p. 133. Kaffir Laws and Customs, p. 52. : 

^ Gerland's Waitz' Anthropolo- * Astley's Collection of Voyages, 

gie, vol. i. p. 633. vol. ii. p. 240. 

^ Pritchard's Nat. Hist, of Man, ^ Gray's Travels in Western 

ii. 403. See also Arbousset's Tour Africa, p. 56. 
to the North-east of the Cape of 



AFBIGA 123 

wishing to marry a young girl at Kayaye, applied to 
her mother, who ' consented to his obtaining her in any 
^ way he could. Accordingly, when the poor girl was 
' employed in preparing some rice for supper, she was 
' seized by her intended husband, assisted by three or 
^ four of his companions, and carried off by force. She 
' made much resistance, by biting, scratching, kick- 

* ing, and roaring most bitterly. Many, both men and 
' women, some of them her own relations, who wit- 
' nessed the affair, only laughed at the farce, and con- 
^ soled her by saying that she would soon be reconciled 

* to her situation.' Evidently therefore this was not, 
as Gray seems to have supposed, a mere act of lawless 
violence, but a recognised custom, which called for no 
interference on the part of spectators. Denham,^ de- 
scribing a marriage at Sockna (North Africa), says that 
the bride is taken on a camel to the bridegroom's house, 
' upon which it is necessary for her to appear greatly 
' surprised, and refuse to dismount ; the women scream, 
' the men shout, and she is at length persuaded to 
^ enter.' 

Thompson found a similar custom among the 
Watuta of Masai Land. 

Among the Arabs of Sinai, when a marriage has 
been arranged, the girl is waylaid by her lover ' and 
^ a couple of his friends, and carried off by force to his 
' father's tent. If she entertains any suspicion of their 
' designs, she defends herself with stones, and often 

* inflicts wounds on the young men, even though she 
^ does not dislike the lover.' ^ 

^ Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 39. douins and Wahabys, vol. i. p. 263. 

2 Burckliardt's Notes on the Be- See also pp. 108, 234. 



124 GIBGASSIA—EUBOPU—ROMU 

In Circassia weddings are accompanied by a feast, 
^ in the midst of whicli the bridegroom has to rush in, 
' and, with the help of a few daring young men, carry 
^ off the lady by force ; and by this process she becomes 
' the lawful wife.' ^ According to Spencer, another im- 
portant part of the ceremony consists in the bridegroom 
drawing his dagger and cutting open the bride's corset. 

As regards Europe, Plutarch ^ tells us that in Sparta 
the bridegroom usually carried off his bride by force, 
evidently, however, of a friendly character. I would 
venture to suggest that the character of Helen, as 
portrayed in the ' Iliad,' can only be understood by 
regarding her marriage with Paris as a case of marriage 
by capture.^ ' Les premiers Romains,' says Ortolan,* 
^ ont ete obliges de recourir a la surprise et a la force 

* pour enlever leurs premieres femmes,' and he points 
out that long after any actual violence had ceased it 
was customary to pass a lance over the head of the 
bride, ' en signe de la puissance que vaacquerir le mari." 
Hence also, while a man might be married in his 
absence, this was not the case as regards the woman. 
A man might capture a bride for his friend, but the 
woman could not be captured unless really present.^ 
In North Friesland, ' a young fellow called the bride- 
' lifter lifts the bride and her two bridesmaids upon the 
^ waggon in which the married couple are to travel to 

* their home.' ^ M'Lennan states that in some parts of 
France, down to the seventeenth century, it was cus- 

^ Moser, The Caucasus and its * Expi. Hist, des Inst, de I'Emp. 

People, p. 31 ; quoted by M'Lennan, Justinien, pp. 81, 82. 
loc. cit. p. 36. 5 j^QQ ^^Y. p. 127. 

2 gge also Herodotus, vi. 65. « M'Lennan, loc. cit. p. 33. 

^ See Appendix. 



POLAND— BUS8IA— BRITAIN^ IBELAND 125 

tomary for the bride to feign reluctance to enter the 
bridegroom's house. 

In Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and parts of Prussia, 
according to Seignior Gaya,^ young men used to carry 
oiF their sweethearts by force, and then apply to the 
parents for their consent. 

Lord Kames,^ in his ' Sketches of the History of 
^ Man,' mentions that the following marriage ceremony 
was, in his day, or at least had till shortly before, been 
customary among the Welsh : — ' On the morning of 
' the wedding-day the bridegroom, accompanied by his 
' friends on horseback, demands the bride. Her friends, 
* who are likewise on horseback, give a positive refusal, 
' on which a mock scuffle ensues. The bride, mounted 
^ behind her nearest kinsman, is carried off, and is pur- 
' sued by the bridegroom and his friends, with loud 
' shouts. It is not uncommon on such an occasion to 
' see 200 or 300 sturdy Cambro-Britons riding at full 
' speed, crossing and jostling, to the no small amuse- 
' ment of the spectators. When they have fatigued 
' themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is suffered 
' to overtake his bride. He leads her away in triumph, 
' and the scene is concluded with feasting and festivity.' 

Sir H. Piers says that in Ireland, after a marriage 
had been arranged, ^ on the day of bringing home, the 
'bridegroom and his friends ride out and meet the bride 
' and her friends at the place of meeting. Being come 
' near each other, the custom was of old to cast short 
' darts at the company that attended the bride, but at 
' such distance that seldom any hurt ensued. Yet it is 

^ Marriage CeremoDies, p. 35. chapter ix. 
See also Olaus Magnus, vol. xiv. ^ History of Man, vol. ii, p. 59. 



126 TURKEY— BENGAL— PEILIPPINES 

^ not out of the memory of man that the Lord of Hoath 
' on such an occasion lost an eye.' ^ 

In European Turkey Mr. Tozer tells us that ' the 
^ Mirdites never intermarry ; but when any of them, 
^ from the highest to the lowest, wants a wife, he carries 
' off a Mahometan woman from one of the neighbouring 
^ tribes, baptizes her, and marries her. The parents, we 
^ were told, do not usually feel much aggrieved, as it 
^ is well understood that a sum of money will be paid 
/ in return.' '^ 

To these instances many others might have been 
added, as for instance the natives of Sumatra, the 
Mapuches, Bushmen, &c. 

In all these cases the girl is carried off by the man ; 
but among the Garos of Bengal we find a similar custom, 
only that it is the bridegroom who is carried off. He 
pretends to be unwilling and runs away, but is caught 
by the friends of the bride, and then taken by force, ' in 
* spite of the resistance and counterfeited grief and 
^ lamentation of his parents, to the bride's house.' ^ So 
also among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, if her 
parents will not consent to a love match, the girl seizes 
the young man by the hair of his head, carries him off, 
and declares she has run away with him. In such a 
case it appears that marriage is held to be valid, whether 
the parents consent or not.^ 

Thus, then, we see that marriage by capture, either 
as a stern reality or as an important ceremony, prevails 
in Australia, among the Malays, in Hindostan, Central 

^ Descr. of Westmeath. Quoted ^ Bon wick, The Tasmanians, p. 

by M'Lennan. 71. 

^ The Highlands of Turkey, vol. * Dalton, Descr. Ethn. of Bengal, 

i. p. 318. p. 64. 



WIDE BANGS OF MAEEIAGE BY GAPTUBE 127 

Asia, Siberia, and Kamskatka ; among the Esquimaux, 
the Northern Redskins, the Aborigines of Brazil, in 
Chili, and Tierra del Fuego, in the Pacific Islands, both 
among the Polynesians and the Fijians, in the Philip- 
pines, in Tasmania, among the Kaffirs, Arabs, and 
Negroes, in Circassia, and, until recently, throughout a 
great part of Europe. 

I have already referred to the custom of lifting the 
bride over the doorstep, which we find in such distinct 
and distant races as the Romans, the Redskins of 
Canada, the Chinese, and the Abyssinians. Hence, 
also, perhaps, our honeymoon, during which the bride- 
groom keeps his bride away from her relatives and 
friends ; hence even, perhaps, as Mr. M'Lennan supposes, 
the slipper is, in mock anger, thrown after the departing 
bride and bridegroom. 

The curious custom which forbids the father-in-law 
and the mother-in-law to speak to their son-in-law, and 
vice versa, which I have already shown (p. 12) to be 
very widely distributed, but for which no satisfactory 
explanation has yet been given, seems to be a natural 
consequence of marriage by capture. When the capture 
was a reality, the indignation of the parents would also 
be real • when it became a mere symbol, the parental 
anger would be symbolised also, and would be continued 
even after its origin was forgotten.^ According to- 
statistics collected by Mr. Tylor ^ this avoidance seems 
to be especially frequent in tribes where the custom is 
for the husband to live with his wife's relations. At 



1 I am glad to see that Mr. Howitt's Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 
Morgan is disposed to adopt this 16. 
suggestion. Introd. to Fison and ^ jo^^i-jj^^j^thr. Inst. 1889, p.24. 



128 MABBIAGJE BY CONFAREEATIO 

first this seemed to me unfavourable to the view which 
connects it with marriage by capture, but this is, after 
all, not so. If the theory is that the wife has been cap- 
tured, and yet the husband lives with the wife's relations, 
the natural way of marking the fact would be that the 
relations would show their displeasure. 

The separation of husband and wife, to which also I 
have referred (p. 72), may also arise from the same 
custom. It is very remarkable, indeed, how persistent 
are all customs and ceremonies connected with marriage. 
Thus our ' bride cake,' which so invariably accompanies 
a wedding, and which must always he cut by the bride, 
may be traced back to the old Roman form of marriage 
by ' confarreatio,' or eating together. So also among 
the Iroquois, bride and bridegroom used to partake to- 
gether of a cake of ' sagamite,' ^ which the bride offered 
to her husband. The Fiji Islanders^ have a very 
similar custom. The marriage ceremony in Samoa, 
says Turner, ' reminds us of the Roman confarreatio.' ^ 
' Confarreatio ' also exists among the Karens and Bur- 
mese.^ Again, among the Tipperahs, one of the Hill 
tribes of Chittagong, the bride prepares some drink, 

* sits on her lover's knee, drinks half, and gives him the 

* other half ; they afterwards crook together their little 
' fingers.' ^ In one form or another a similar custom is 
found among most of the Hill tribes of India. Among 
the Ghiliaks (JSTorthEast Asia) the definitive part of the 
marriage ceremony consists in the bride and bridegroom 

^ Lafitau, vol. i. pp. 566, 571. ^ M'Mahon, The Karens of the 

^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. p. G. Chersonese, pp. 322, 350. 

170. ^ Lewin's Hill Tracts of Chitta- 

^ Nineteen Years in Polynesia, gong, pp. 71^ 80. Dalton's Descr. 

p. 186. Ethn. of Bengal, p. 193. 



MAEBIAGB BY CAPTURE 129 

drinking out of the same cup. A very similar custom 
occurs in New Guinea ; ^ among the Samoyedes, and in 
Madagascar also, part of the marriage ceremony con- 
sists in the bride and bridegroom eating out of one 
dish.^ The German word ' vermahlen ' points to the 
same idea. 

Among the Chuckmas (a tribe residing among the 
Chittagong hills) the bride and bridegroom are bound 
together with a muslin scarf, and then eat together.^ 

Here also I must mention the curious custom of 
l3oy -marriages, under which a girl is legally married to a 
mere boy, who is regarded as the father of her children, 
while she herself lives with someone else, generally the 
father of her nominal husband. This arrangement is 
found among some of the Caucasian tribes, in parts of 
Russia, among the Reddies in South India, and the 
•Chibchas of New Granada. It has not, I think, been 
satisfactorily explained. 

Mr. M'Lennan conceives that marriage by capture 
arose from the custom of exogamy, that is to say, from 
the custom which forbade marriage withm the tribe. 
Exogamy, again, he considers to have arisen from the 
practice of female infanticide. I have already indicated 
the reasons which prevent me from accepting this ex- 
planation, and which induce me to regard exogamy as 
arising from marriage by capture, not marriage by cap- 
ture from exogamy. Mr. M'Lennan's theory seems to 
me quite inconsistent with the existence of tribes which 
have marriage by capture and yet are endogamous. 



' Gerland's Con. of Waitz' An- People, p. 193. 
throp., vol. vi. p. 633. ^ Lewin, Wild Tribes of South- 

^ Sibree's Madagascar and its eastern India, p. 177. 

K 



130 EXPIATION FOB MARRIAGE 

The Bedouins, for instance, have marriage by capture, 
and yet the man has a recognised right to marry his 
cousin, if only he be willing to give the price demanded 
for her.^ 

Mr. M'Lennan, indeed, feels the difficulty which 
would be presented by such cases, the existence of 
which he seems, however, to doubt ; adding, that if 
the symbol of capture be ever found in the marriage 
ceremonies of an endogamous tribe, we may be sure 
that it is a relic of an early time at which the tribe was 
organised on another principle than that of exogamy.^ 
Another objection to his theory is the presence of 
marriage by capture with polygamy. 

That marriage by capture has not arisen merely from 
female coyness is, I think, evident, as already mentioned ; 
firstly, because it does not account for the resistance of 
the relatives ; secondly, because it is contrary to all 
experience that feminine delicacy diminishes with civi- 
lisation ; and thirdly, because the very question to be 
solved is why it has become so generally the custom 
to win the wife by force rather than by persuasion. 
It leaves moreover entirely unexplained the case men- 
tioned on p. 126, in which the man, not the bride, is 
captured. 

The explanation which I have suggested derives 
additional probability from the evidence of a general 
feeling that marriage was an act for which some com- 
pensation was due to those whose rights were invaded. 

The nature of the ceremonies by which this was 
effected makes me reluctant to enter into this part of 

1 Klemm, Allgem, Culturg. d. Menscli, vol. iv. p. 146. 
^ Zoc. cit. p. 53. 



EXPIATION FOB MAEBIAGE 131 

the subject at length ; and I will here, therefore, merely 
indicate in general terms the character of the evidence. 

I will firstly refer to certain details given by Dulaure ^ 
in his chapter on the worship of Venus, of which he 
regards these customs merely as one illustration, 
although they have, I cannot but think, a signification 
deeper than, and different from, that which he attri- 
butes to them. 

We must remember that the better known savage 
races have, in most cases, now arrived at the stage in 
which paternal rights are recognised, and hence that 
fathers can and do sell their daughters into matrimony. 
The price of a wife is, of course, regulated by the 
circumstances of the tribe, and every, or nearly every, 
industrious young man is enabled to buy one for him- 
self. As long, however, as communal marriage rights 
were in force this would be almost impossible. That 
special marriage was an infringement of these com- 
munal rights, for which some compensation was due, 
seems to me the true explanation of the offerings which 
virgins were so generally compelled to make before being 
permitted to marry.- 

The same feeling, probably, gave rise to the curious 
custom existing, according to Strabo,^ among the ( Par- 
thian) Tapyrians, that when a man had two or three 
children by one wife, he was obliged to leave her, so 
that she might marry someone else. There is some 
reason to suppose that a similar custom once prevailed 
among the Romans ; thus Cato, who was proverbially 
austere in his morals, did not think it right permanently 

^ Hist, abregee des diiF. Cultes. ^ See Appendix. 

3 Strabo, ii. pp. 515, 520. 



132 TEMFOBABY WIVES 

to retain his wife Martia, whom his friend Hortensius 
wished to marry. This he accordmgly permitted, and 
Martia lived with Hortensius until his death, when she 
returned to her first husband. The high character of 
Cato is sufficient proof that^he would not have permitted 
this, if he had regarded it as wrong ; and Plutarch ex- 
pressly states that the custom of lending wives existed 
among the Romans. Akin to this feeling is that which 
induces so many savage tribes ^ to provide their guests 
with temporary wives. To omit this would be regarded 
as quite inhospitable. The practice, moreover, seems to 
recognise the existence of a right inherent in every 
member of the community, and to visitors as temporary 
members ; which, in the case of the latter, could not 
be abrogated by arrangements made before their arrival, 
and, consequently, without their concurrence. The 
prevalence of this custom brings home to us forcibly 
the difference existing between the savage and the 
civilised modes of regarding the relation of the sexes 
to one another. 

Perhaps the most striking case of all is that afforded 
by some of the Brazilian tribes. The captives taken 
by them in war used to be kept for some time and 
fatted up ; after which they were killed and eaten. 
Yet even here, during the time that they had to live, 
^ach poor wretch was generally provided with a tem- 
porary wife.^ 

This view also throws some light on the remarkable 
subordination of the wife to the husband, which is so 



^ For instance, the Esquimaux, Arabs, Abyssinians, Kaffirs, Mongols, 

;Nortli and South. American Indians, Tutski, &c. 

Polynesians, Australians, Berbers, ^ Lafitau,MoeursdesSauv.Amer., 

Eastern and Western Negroes, vol. ii. p. 294. 



UXOGAMY 133. - 

characteristic of marriage, and so curiously inconsistent 
with all our avowed ideas ; moreover, it tends to explain 
those curious cases in which HetairsB were held in 
greater estimation than those women who were, as we 
should consider, properly and respectably married to a. 
single husband.^ The former were originally fellow - 
countrywomen and relations ; the latter captives and. 
slaves. And even when this ceased to be the case, the 
idea would long survive the circumstances which gave 
rise to it.^ 

1 now pass to the curious custom, for which 
M'Lennan has proposed the convenient term ' exogamy ^ 
— that, namely, of necessarily marrying out of the 
tribe. Tylor, who also called particular attention to 
this custom in his interesting work on ' The Early 
^ History of Man,' which was published in the very 
same year as M'Lennan's ' Primitive Marriage,' thought 
that ' the evils of marrying near relatives might be the 
' main ground of this series of restrictions.' Morgan^ 
also considers exogamy as * explainable, and only ex- 
' plainable, as a reformatory movement to break up the 
' intermarriage of blood relations,' and which could only 
be effected by exogamy, because all in the tribe were 
regarded as related. We cannot, however, attribute to 
savages any such farsighted ideas. Moreover, in fact, 
exogamy afforded little protection against the marriage 
of relatives, and, wherever it was systematised. it per- 
mitted marriage even between half brothers and sisters^ 
either on the father's or mother's side. Where an ob- 



^ Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht, ^ See Appendix, 

pp. xix. 125. Burton's Lake Ke- ^ Proc. Amer. Acad, of Arts and 

gions of Africa, vol. i. p. 198. Sciences, 1866. 



134 OEIGIN OF EXOGAMY 

jection to the intermarriage of relatives existed, exogamy 
was unnecessary ; where it did not exist, exogamy, if 
this view was correct, could not arise. 

M'Lennan says, ' I believe this restriction on mar- 
^ riage to be connected with the practice in early times 

* of female infanticide, which, rendering women scarce, 

* led at once to polyandry within the tribe, and the cap- 

* turing of women from without.' -^ He has not alluded 
to the natural preponderance of men over women. 
Thus, throughout Europe, the proportion of boys to 
girls is as 106 to 100. '^ Here, therefore, even without in- 
fanticide, we see that there is no exact balance between 
the sexes. In many savage races, in various parts of 
the world, it has been observed the men are much more 
numerous, but it is difficult to ascertain how far this is 
due to an original difference, and how far to other 
causes. Moreover, many of the races which are endo- 
gamous in one sense, as not marrying out of the tribe, 
are yet exogamous in the true sense, as not marrying 
within the ' gens.' 

It is conceivable that the difference between endo- 
gamous and exogamous tribes may have been due to 
the different proportion of the sexes : those races tend- 
ing to become exogamous where boys prevail ; those, on 
the other hand, endogamous where the reverse is the 
case.^ I am not, however, aware that we have any 
statistics which enable us to determine this point, nor 
do I believe that it is the true explanation of the 
custom. 

Infanticide is, no doubt, very prevalent among 

^ Loc. cit. p. 138. 2 Waitz' Anthropology, p. 111. 

' See Das Mutterrecht, p. 109. 



ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 135 

savages. As long, indeed, as men were few in number, 
enemies were scarce and game was tame. Under these 
circumstances, there was no temptation to mfanticide. 
There were some things which women could do better 
than men — some occupations which pride and laziness, 
or both, induced them to leave to the women. As 
soon, however, as in any country population became 
even slightly more dense, neighbours became a nuisance. 
They invaded the hunting grounds, and disturbed the 
game. Hence, if for no other reason, Avars would arise. 
Once begun, they would break out agam and again, 
under one pretence or another. Men for slaves, 
women for wives, and the thirst for glory, made 
a weak tribe always a temptation to a strong one. 
Under these circumstances, female children became a 
source of weakness in several ways. They ate, and did 
not hunt. They weakened their mothers when young, 
and, when grown-up, were a temptation to surrounding 
tribes. Hence female infanticide is easily accounted for. 
Yet I cannot regard it as the true cause of exogamy. 
It does not appear to have been so general as Mr. 
McLennan supposes, nor does it specially characterise 
the very lowest races. 

I cannot, then, regard as satisfactory any of the 
explanations which have hitherto been proposed to 
account for the origin of exogamy. The true solution 
is, I think, of a diiferent character. We must remem- 
ber that under the communal system the women of 
the tribe were all common property. No one could 
appropriate one of them to himself without infriuging 
on the sreneral rio^hts of the tribe. Women taken in 
war were, on the contrary, in a different position. The 



136 PEEVALENCU OF EXOGAMY— AUSTRALIA 

tribe, as a tribe, had no right to them, and men surely 
would reserve to themselves exclusively their own 
prizes. These cajDtives, then, would naturally become 
the wives in our sense of the term. Several causes 
would tend to increase the importance of the separate, 
and decrease that of communal, marriage. The im- 
pulse which it would give to, and receive back from, the 
development of the affections ; the convenience with 
reference to domestic arrangements ; the natural vfishes 
of the wife herself; and, last not least, the inferior 
energy of the children sprung from ' in and in ' 
marriages, would all tend to increase the importance of 
individual marriage. 

Even were there no other cause, the advantage of 
crossing, so well known to breeders of stock, would 
soon give a marked preponderance to those races by 
whom exogamy was largely practised, and for several 
reasons, therefore, we need not be surprised to find exo- 
gamy very prevalent among the lower races of man. 
When this state of things had gone on for some time^ 
usage, as M'Lennan well observes, would ' establish a 
' prejudice among the tribes observing it — a prejudice 
' strong as a principle of religion, as every prejudice 
' relating to marriage is apt to be — against marrying 
' women of their stock.' ^ 

We should not, perhaps, have a piiori expected to 
find among savages any such remarkable restriction, yet 
it is very widely distributed ; and from this point of 
view we can, I think, clearly see how it arose. 

In Australia, where the same family names are com- 
mon almost over the whole continent, no man may 

^ Loc. cit. p. 140. 



A USTEALIA— AFRICA 137 

marry a woman whose family name is the same as his 
own, and who belongs therefore to the same tribe.^ 
' ISo man/ says Mr. Lang, ' can marry a woman of 
^ the same clan, though the parties be no way related 
' according to our ideas.' ^ 

In addition to the Australian cases already mentioned 
(ante, p. 88), the natives of West Australia and Port 
Lincoln are divided into two great clans, and no man 
may marry a woman of the same clan.^ So also in New 
Britain and the Duke of York group of islands the 
natives are divided into two classes, and marriage be- 
tween persons of the same clan is thought very dis- 
reputable.'* 

In Eastern Africa, Burton ^ says that ' some clans of 
' the Somal will not marry one of the same, or even of 
' a consanguineous family ; ' and the Bakalari have the 
same rule.^ 

Du Chaillu,^ speaking of Western Equatorial Africa, 
says, ^ the law of marriages among the tribes I have 
' visited is peculiar ; each tribe is divided into clans ; 
* the children in most of the tribes belong to the clan of 
' the mother, and these cannot by any possible laws 
' marry among themselves, however removed in degree 
' they may have been connected : it is considered an 
' abomination among them. But there exists no ob- 
^jection to possessing a father's or brother's wife. I 



^ Eyre's Discoveries in Australia, •* Brown, quoted in Wallace's 

vol. ii. p. 329. Grey's Journal, p. Australasia, p. 470. 
242. 5 First Footsteps, p. 120. 

2 The Aborigines of Australia, '^ Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. i. 

p. 10. Taplin's The Narinyeri, p. 1. p. 321. 

^ Forrest, Journ. Anthrop. Insti- "^ Ibid. p. 307. 

tute, vol. V. p. 317. 



138 EINDOSTAN 

' could not but be struck with the healthful influence 
' of such regulations against blood marriages among 
' them.' 

In India the Khasias/ Juangs,^ and Waralis are 
divided into sections, and no man may marry a woman 
belonging to his own section. In the Magar tribes 
these sections are called Thums, and the same rule pre- 
vails. Colonel Dalton tells us that ' the Hos, Moondahs, 
' and Oraons are divided into clans or keelis, and may 
' not take to wife a girl of the same keeli.' Again, the 
Garrows are divided into " maharis,' and a man may not 
marry a girl of his own ' mahari.' 

The Munnieporees and other tribes inhabiting the 
hills round Munniepore — the Koupooees, Mows, Mu- 
rams, and Murrings, as M'Lennan points out on the 
authority of M'Culloch — ' are each and all divided into 
' four families : Koomrul, Looang, Angom, and King- 
' thaja. A member of any of these families may marry 
' a member of any other, but the intermarriage of 
^ members of the same family is strictly prohibited.' ^ 
On the contrary, the Todas, says Metz,^ ' are divided 
' into five distinct classes, known by the names Peiky, 
' Pekkan, Kuttan, Kennae, and Tody ; of which the 
^ first is regarded as the most aristocratic. These classes 
^ do not even intermarry with each other, and can there- 
' fore never lose their distinctive characteristics.' The 
Khonds, as we are informed by General Campbell, ^ re- 
^ gard it as degrading to bestow their daughters in 



^ Godwin Austen, Journ. Anthr. ^ Account of the Valley of Mun- 

Inst., 1871, p. 131. niepore, 1859, pp. 49, 69. 

2 Dalton'sDescr.Ethn. of Bengal, ^ Tribes of the Neilgherry Hills, 

p. 158. p. 21. 



NEPA UL— CEYLON— CIEGASSIA 139 

^ marriage on men of their own tribe ; and consider it 
^ more manly to seek their wives in a distant country.' ^ 
Major M'Pherson also tells us that they consider mar- 
riage between people of the same tribe as wicked, and 
punishable with death. The mountain tribes of Nepaul, 
before the advent of the Kajpoots, are said to have con- 
sisted of twelve Thums or clans, and no man was per- 
mitted to marry a woman of the same Thum.'^ 

We are indebted to Mr. Brito,^ of Colombo, for a 
very interesting treatise on the rules of succession among 
the Mukkuvars of Ceylon. These rules are founded on 
the custom that no one may marry a person of the 
same ' kudi,' i.e. anyone who is related on the mother's 
side. Indeed, all relationship is from the mother, none 
from the father ; succession is traced through the 
mother ; land, if inherited, is out of marital power, and 
is managed by the males for the females. 

The Kalmucks, according to De Hell, are divided 
into hordes, and no man can marry a woman of the 
same horde. The bride, says Bergman, speaking of the 
same people, is always chosen from another stock ; 
' among the Derbets, for instance, from the Torgot 
' stock, and araono; the Toro^ots from the Derbet 
' stock.' 

The same custom prevails among the Circassians and 
the Samoyedes.^ The Ostyaks regard it as a crime to 
marry a woman of the same family or even of the same 
name.^ 

When a Jakut (Siberia) wishes to marry, he must, 

' Campbell, p. 142. ^ xhe MukkuTa Law. 

2 Hamilton's Account of the King- ^ Pallas, vol. iv. p. 96. 

dom of Nepaul, p. 27. ^ Ibid. vol. iv. p. 69. 



140 CHINA— NORTH AMEUIGA 

says Middendorf/ choose a girl from another clan. No 
one is permitted to marry a woman from his own. In 
China, says Davis, ^ ' marriage between all persons of 
' the same surname being unlawful, this rule must of 

* course include all descendants of the male branch for 
^ ever ; and as, in so vast a population, there are not a 
' great many more than one hundred surnames through- 
' out the empire, the embarrassments that arise from so 
' strict a law must be considerable.' 

Among the Tinne Indians of North- West America, 
' a Chit-sangh cannot, by their rules, ^ marry a Chit- 

* sangh, although the rule is set at naught occasionally ; 

* but when it does take place the persons are ridiculed 
' and laughed at. The man is said to have married his 
' sister, even though she may be from another tribe, 
' and there be not the slightest connection by blood 
' between them. The same way with the other two 
^ divisions. The children are of the same colour as 
^ their mother. They receive caste from their mother : 
' if a male Chit-sangh marry a Nah-tsingh woman, the 
' children are Nah-tsingh ; and if a male Nah-tsingh 
' marry a Chit-sangh woman, the children are Chit- 
^ sangh, so that the divisions are always changing. As 
' the fathers die out, the country inhabited by the 

* Chit-sangh becomes occupied by the Nah-tsingh, and 
' so vice versa. They are continually changing coun- 
' tries, as it were.' 

Among the Kenaiyers (N.W. America), ' it was the 
^ custom that the men of one stock should choose their 

^ Sibirisclie Reise, p. 72. See ^ r^^^^ Chinese, vol. i. p. 282. 

also Miiller's Descr. de toutes les ^ Notes on the Tinneh. Har- 

Races de I'Einp. de Russie, pt. ii. disty, Smithsonian Report, 1866^ 

p. 68. p. 315. 



EXOGAMY IN NORTH AMEBIGA 141 

* wives from another, and the offspring belonged to 

* the race of the mother. This custom has fallen into 
' disuse, and marriages in the same tribe occur ; but the 
' old people say that mortality among Kenaiyers has 
^ arisen from the neglect of the ancient usage. A man's 
' nearest heirs in this tribe are his sister's children.' ^ 
The Tsimsheean Indians of British Columbia^ are 
similarly divided into tribes and totems, or ' crests, 
^ which are common to all the tribes. The crests are 
' the whale, the j^orpoise, the eagle, the coon, the wolf, 

* and the frog. In connection with these crests, several 
' very important points of Indian character and law are 
' seen. The relationship existing between persons of 
^ the same crest is nearer than that between members of 
' the same tribe, which is seen in this, that members of 
' the same tribe may marry, but those of the same crest 

* are not allowed to do so under any circumstances ; 
' that is, a whale may not marry a whale, but a whale 
' may marry a frog,' &c. 

Very similar rules exist among the Thlinkeets,^ and 
indeed, as regards the Northern Redskins generally, 
it is stated^ in ' Archaeologia Americana' that 'every 
' nation was divided into a number of clans, varying in 
' the several nations from three to eight or ten, the 
' members of which respectively were dispersed indis- 
' criminately throughout the whole nation. It has been 
' fully ascertained that the inviolable regulations by 
' which these clans were perpetuated amongst the 

^ Richardson's Boat Journey, p. 6, 
vol. i. p. 406. See also Smithsonian ^ Bancroft, loe. cit. vol. i. p. 1 09. 

Report, 1866, p. 326. * Gallatin, loc. cit. vol. xi. p. 109. 

^ Metlahkatlah, puhlished by the Lafitau, vol. i. p. 558. Tanner's 

Church Missionary Society, 1869? Narrative, p. 313. 



142 EXOGAMY IN SOUTH AMEBIGA 

' southern nations were, first, that no man could marry 
^ in his own clan ; secondly, that every child should 
' belong to his or her mother's clan.' 

Among the Mayas of Yucatan, according to Ilerrera, 
marriage was forbidden between people of the same 
name. 

The Indians of Guiana ^ ' are divided into families, 
* each of which has a distinct name, as the Siwidi, 
' Karuafudi, Onisidi, &c. Unlike our families, these all 
' descend in the female line, and no individual of either 
' sex is allowed to marry another of the same family 
' name. Thus, a woman of the Siwidi family bears the 
' same name as her mother, but neither her father nor 
' her husband can be of that family. Her children and 
' the children of her daughters will also be called Siwidi, 
' but both her sons and daughters are prohibited from 
' an alliance with any individual bearing the same name ; 
' though they may marry into the family of their father 
' if they choose. These customs are strictly observed, 
^ and any breach of them would be considered as 
' wicked.' 

The Brazilian races, according to Martius, differ 
greatly in their marriage regulations. In some of the 
very scattered tribes, who live in small families far 
remote from one another, the nearest relatives often 
intermarry. In more populous districts, on the contrary, 
the tribes are divided into families, and a strict system 
of exogamy prevails.^ In Mangaia, according to Mr. 
Gill, in olden times, a man was not permitted to marry 
a woman of his own tribe.^ 



^ Brett's Indian Tribes of Guiana, p. 98. 
- Zoc. cit. p. 63. 2 Savage Life in Polynesia, p. 136. 



THE CAUSES OF FOLYGAMY 14a 

Thus, then, we see that this remarkable custom 
of exogamy exists throughout Western and Eastern 
Africa, in Circassia, Hindostan, Tartary, Siberia, China, 
Polynesia, and Australia, as well as in North and South 
America. 

The relations existing between husband and wife in 
the lower races of man, as indicated in the jDreceding^ 
pages, are sufficient to remove all surprise at the preva- 
lence of polygamy. There are, however, other causes,, 
not less powerful, though perhaps less prominent, ta 
which much influence must be ascribed. Thus in all 
tropical regions girls become marriageable very young ; 
their beauty is acquired early, and soon fades, while 
men, on the contrary, retain their full powers much 
longer. Hence, when love depends, not on similarity of 
tastes, pursuits, or sympathies, but entirely on external 
attractions, we cannot wonder that every man who is 
able to do so provides himself with a succession of 
favourites, even when the first wife remains not only 
nominally the head, but really his confidant and adviser. 
Another cause has no doubt exercised great influence. 
Milk IS necessary for children, and in the absence of do- 
mestic animals it consequently follows that they are not 
weaned until they are several years old. The effect of 
this on the social relations has been already referred to.^ 

Polyandry, on the contrary, is far less common, 
though more frequent than is generally supposed.. 
M'Lennan and Morgan, indeed, both regard it as a 
phase through which human progress has necessarily 
passed. 

If, however, we define it as the condition in which 

^ Ante, p. 79. 



144 POLYANDRY 

one woman is married to several men, bat (as distin- 
guished from communal marriage) to them exclusively, 
then I am rather disposed to regard it as an exceptional 
phenomenon, arising from the paucity of females. 

M'Lennan, indeed,^ gives a long list of tribes which 
he regards as polyandrous, namely, those of Thibet, 
Cashmeer, and the Himalayan regions, the Todas, 
Coorgs, Nairs, and various other races in India, in 
Ceylon, in New Zealand,^ and one or two other Pacific 
islands, in the Aleutian Archipelago, among the 
Koryaks, the Saporogian Cossacks, on the Orinoco, in 
parts of Africa, and in Lancerote. He also mentions 
the ancient Britons, some of the Median cantons, the 
Picts, and the Gretes, while traces of it occurred among 
the ancient Germans. On the other hand, to the in- 
stances quoted by M'Lennan we may add that of some 
families among the Australians,^ Nukahivans,^ and 
Iroquois. 

If we examine the above instances, some of them 
will, I think, prove irrelevant. The passage referred 
to in Tacitus^ does not appear to me to justify us in 
regarding the Germans as having been polyandrous. 

Erman is correctly referred to by M'Lennan as 
mentioning the existence of ' lawful polyandry in the 
^ Aleutian Islands.' He does not, however, give his 
authority for the statement. The account he gives of 
the Koryaks by no means, I think, proves that poly- 
andry occurs among them. The case of the Kalmucks, 
to judge from the account given by Clarke,^ is certainly 

^ Loc. cit. p. 180. 4 Ibid. vol. vi. p. 128. 

2 Lafitau, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 555. ^ Germania, xx. 

3 Gerland's Waitz' Anthropo- « travels, vol. i. p. 241. 
logie, vol. vi. p. 774. 



POLYANDBY EXCEPTIONAL 145 

one in which brothers, but brothers only, have a wife in 
common. 

For Polynesia, M'Lennan relies on the Legend of 
Rupe, as told by Sir G. Grey.^ Here, however, it 
is merely stated that two brothers named Ihuatamai 
and Ihuwareware, having found Hinauri, when she was 
thrown by the surf on the coast at Wairarawa, ' looked 
' upon her with pleasure, and took her as a wife between 
' them both.' This seems to me rather a case of com- 
munal marriage than of polyandry, especially when the 
rest of the legend is borne in mind. Neither is the evi- 
dence as regards Africa at all satisfactory. The cus- 
tom referred to by M'Lennan^ probably originates in 
the subjection of the woman which is there implied by 
marriage, and which may be regarded as inconsistent 
with high rank. 

Several of the above cases are, indeed, I think, 
merely instances of communal marriage. Indeed, it is 
evident that where our information is incomplete, it 
must often be far from easy to distinguish between 
communal marriage and true polyandry. 

Polyandry is no doubt widely distributed in Ceylon, 
India, and Thibet, and among some of the hill tribes 
of India. A pretty Dophla girl once came into 
the station of Luckimpur, threw herself at Colonel 
Dalton's feet, ' and in most poetical language asked me 
' to give her my protection.' She was promised by her 
father to a man whom she did not love, and had 
' eloped with her beloved. This was interesting and 
^ romantic' Colonel Dalton sent for the beloved, and, he 

^ Polynesian Mythology, p. 81. "^ Eeade's Savage Africa, p. 43. 

L 



146 TEE 8YSTI]M OF LBYIBATJE 

says, ^ tlie romance was dispelled. She had eloped with 
' two young men.' ^ In Ceylon the joint husbands are 
always brothers,^ and this is also the case among the 
tribes residing at the foot of the Himalaya ^ Mountains. 
But, on the whole, lawful polyandry (as opposed to 
mere laxness of morality) seems to be an exceptional 
system, generally intended to avoid the evils arising 
from monogamy where the number of women is less 
than that of men. 

The system of L evirate, under which, at a man's 
death, his wife or wives pass to his brother, is, I think, 
more intimately connected with the rights of property 
than with polyandry. This custom is widely distributed. 
It is found, for instance, among the Mongols ^ and 
Kaffirs,^ and in Yucatan.^ When an elder brother 
dies, says Livingstone,^ ' the same thing occurs in re- 
^ spect of his wives ; the brother next in age takes them, 
^ as among the Jews, and the children that may be born 
^ of those women he calls his brothers also.' 

In India, among the Nairs, ' a man always takes to 
' wife, by the custom called Sagai, his elder brother's 
^ widow.' ^ Among the Pacific Islanders, Mr. Brenchley 
mentions that in Erromango ' the wives of deceased 
'• brothers fall to the eldest surviving brother.' ^ 

Similar statements have been made also as regards 
some of the Negro tribes, the Mexicans, Samoans, New 
Zealanders, and Khyens. 

1 Des. Ethn. of Bengal, p. 36. of the Cape of Good Hope, pp. 38, 

2 Davy's Ceylon, p. 286. 138. 

2 Eraser's Tour to the Himala ^ Bancroft, vol. ii. p. 671. 

Mountains, pp. 70, 206. 7 Travels in South Africa, p. 185. 

* Wuttke's Ges. der Menschheit, ^ Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 

Tol. i. p. 223. p. 138. 

5 Arhousset's Tour to the N.E. ^ Cruise of the ' Cura^oa,' p. 319. 



ENDOGAMY 147 

Passing on now to the custom of endogamy, 
I must first observe that there is not the opposition 
between exogamy and endogamy which Mr. M'Lennan 
supposed. Some races which are endogamous as re- 
gards the tribe are yet exogamous as regards the gens. 
Thus some of the Indian races, as the Abors,^ Kocchs, 
and Hos, are forbidden to marry excepting within the 
tribe. The latter at least, however, are not truly endo- 
gamous, for, as already mentioned, they are divided 
into ' keelis ' or clans, and ^ may not take to wife a girl 
' of their own keeli.' ^ Thus they are in fact exogamous, 
and it is possible that some of the other cases of endo- 
gamy might, if we were better acquainted with them, 
present the same duplex phenomenon. 

M'Lennan remarks that ' the separate endogamous 
' tribes are nearly as numerous, and they are in some 
' respects as rude, as the separate exogamous tribes.' ^ 

So far as my knowledge goes, on the contrary, 
endogamy is much less prevalent than exogamy, and it 
seems to me to have arisen from a feeling of race-pride, 
as, for instance, in Peru,^ and a disdain of surrounding 
tribes which were either really or hypothetically in a 
lower condition, though in some cases it may be due to 
weakness, and a consequent desh-e to avoid offending 
powerful neighbours. \ 

Among the Ahts of N. W. America, as mentioned by 
Sproat, ' though the different^tribes of the Aht nation 
' are frequently at war with one another, women are not 
' captured from other tribes for marriage, but only to be 



^ Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal, ^ Loc. cit. p. 145. 

p. 28. ■* Wuttke's Ges. der Menschlieit, 

2 Ante, p. 115. vol. i. pp. 325, 331. 

L 2 



148 ENDOGAMY 

' kept as slaves. The idea of slavery connected with 
' capture is so common, that a free-born Aht would hesi- 
' tate to marry a woman taken in war, whatever her 
' rank had been in her own tribe.' ^ 

Endogamy also prevails among several of the wild 
tribes of Central America.^ 

Amonsf the Yerkalas ^ of Southern India ' a custom 
' prevails by which the first two daughters of a family 
^ may be claimed by the maternal uncle as wives for his 
' sons. The value of a wife is fixed at twenty pagodas. 
' The maternal uncle's right to the first two daughters 
' is valued at eight out of twenty pagodas, and is carried 
' out thus : if he urges his preferential claim, and 
' marries his own sons to his nieces, he pays for each 
^ only twelve pagodas ; and, similarly, if he, from not 
' having sons, or any other cause, forego his claim, 
' he receives eight pagodas of the twenty paid to the 
' girls' parents by anybody else who may marry them.' 
Among some of the Karen tribes marriage between near 
relations is the rule.^ 

The Doingnaks, a branch of the Chukmas, appear 
also to have been endogamous, and Captain Lewin 
mentions that they ' abandoned the parent stem during 
'the chiefship of Jaunbux Khan, about 1782. The 
' reason of this split was a disagreement on the subject 
' of marriages. The chief passed an order that the 
' Doingnaks should intermarry with the tribe in general. 
' This was contrary to ancient custom, and caused dis- 
' content and eventually a break in the tribe.' ^ This 

^ Sproat, Scenes and Studies of vol. vii. p. 187. 
Savage Life, p. 98. ^ M'Mahon, p. 69. 

2 Bancroft, vol. i. p. 703. » Lewin's Hill Tracts of Chitta- 

3 Sliortt, Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., gong, p. 65. 



ENB0GA2IY 149 

is one of the very few cases where we have evidence of 
a change in this respect. 

The Kalangs of Java are also endogamous, and when 
a man asks a girl in marriage he must prove his descent 
from their peculiar stock.^ The Alantchu Tartars for- 
bid marriages between those whose family names are 
different.^ Among the Bedouins, ^ a man has an ex- 
' elusive right to the hand of his cousin,'^ and it is the 
custom of the Karens that ' marriages must always be 
' contracted by relations.' ^ Livingstone also mentions 
that in South Africa the women of the Akombwi ' never 
' intermarry with any other tribe.' ^ In Guam brothers 
and sisters used to intermarry, and it is even stated that 
such unions were preferred as being most natural and 
proper.^ Endogamy would seem to have prevailed in 
the Sandwich Islands,^ and in New Zealand, where, as 
Yate mentions, ' great opposition is made to anyone 
^ taking, except for some political purpose, a wife from 
' another tribe, so that such intermarriages seldom 
' occur.' ^ Barrow mentions that the Hottentots seldom 
married out of their own kraal. ^ On the whole, how- 
ever, endogamy seems a far less common custom than 
exogamy. 

The idea of relationship as existing amongst us, 
founded on marriage, and implying equal connection of 
a child to its father and mother, seems so natural and 

^ Raffles' History of Java, vol. i. ^ Exp. to the Zambesi, p. 39. 

p. 328. *^ Arago's Letters. Freycinet's 

•-^ M'Lennan, loc. cit. p. 146. Voyage, vol. ii. p. 17. 

3 Burckhardt's Notes on the ^ Ibid. p. 94. 

Bedouins and Wahabys, vol. i. pp. ^ New Zealand, p. 99. 

113, 272. ^ Travels in South Africa, vol. i. 

* Morgan, Syst. of Cons, and AfF. p. 144. 
of the Human Family, p. 444. 



150 THU MILK-TW 

obvious that there are, perhaps, many to whom the 
possibility of any other system has not occurred. The 
facts already recorded will, however, have pre23ared us 
for the existence of peculiar ideas on the subject of rela- 
tionship. The strength of the foster -feeling, the milk- 
tie, among the Scotch Highlanders is a familiar instance 
of a mode of regarding relationship very diiFerent from 
that prevalent amongst us. 

We have also seen that, under the custom of com- 
munal marriage, a child was regarded as related to the 
tribe, but not specially to any particular father or 
mother. Such a state of things, indeed, is only pos- 
sible in very small communities. It is evident that 
under communal marriage — and little less so wherever 
polygamy prevailed, and men had many wives — the tie 
between and father and son must have been very slight. 
Among agricultural tribes, and under settled forms of 
government, the chiefs often have very large harems, 
and their importance even is measured by the number 
of their wives, as in other cases by that of their cows or 
horses. 

This state of things is in many ways very preju- 
dicial. It checks, of course, the natural affection and 
friendly intercourse between man and wife. The King 
of Ashantee, for instance, always had 3,333 wives ; 
but no man can love so many women, nor can so* 
many women cherish any personal affection for one 
man. 

Even among hunting races, though men were un- 
able to maintain so many wives, still, as changes are of 
frequent occurrence, the tie between a mother and child 
is much strono'er than that which binds a child to its. 



BELATIONSHIP THROUGH FEMALES 151 

father. Hence we find that among many of the lower 
races relationship through females is the prevalent cus- 
tom, and we are thus able to understand the curious 
practice that a man's heirs are not his own, but his 
sister's children. 

By some it has been regarded as indicating the high 
respect paid to women. Thus Plutarch tells us that 
^ when Bellerophon slew^ a certain wild boar, which 
' destroyed the cattle and fruits in the province of the 
' Xanthians, and received no due reward of his services,, 
' he prayed to Neptune for vengeance, and obtained 
' that all the fields should cast forth a salt dew and be 
' universally corrupted, which continued till he, conde- 
^ scendingly regarding the women suppliants, prayed to 
' Neptune and removed his wrath from them. Hence 
^ there was a law among the Xanthians that they should 
' derive their names in future, not from the fathers, but 
' from the mothers.' ^ 

Montesquieu^ regarded relationship through females 
as intended to prevent the accumulation of landed pro- 
perty in few hands — an explanation manifestly inap- 
plicable to many, nay, the majority, of cases in which 
the custom exists — and the explanation above suggested 
is, I have no doubt, the correct one. 

Thus, when a rich man died in Gruinea, his property, 
excepting the armour, descended to the sister's son, 
expressly, according to Smith, on the ground that he 
must certainly have been a relative.^ Battel mentions 
that the town of Longo (Loango) ' is governed by four 

^ Plutarch, Concerning the Vir- 143. See also Pinkerton's Voyages, 

tues of Women. vol. xv. pp. 417, 421, 528 ; Astley's 

^ Esprit des Lois, vol. i. p. 70. Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. pp. 

3 Smith's Voyage to Guinea, p. 63, 256. 



152 BELATIONSEIP THROUGH FUMALBS 

' chiefs, who are sons of the king's sisters ; for the 
' king's sons never come to be kings.' ^ Quatremere men- 
tions that ' chez les Nubiens, dit Abou Selah, lorsqu'un 
' roi vient a mourir et qu'il laisse un fils et un neveu du 
' cote de sa soeur, celui monte sur le tr6ne de preference 
' a I'heritier naturel.' ^ 

In Central Africa, CaiUie ^ says that ' the sovereignty 
' remains always in the same family, but the son never 
' succeeds his father ; they choose in preference a son of 
' the king's sister, conceiving that by this method the 
' sovereign power is more sure to be transmitted to one 
' of the blood royal ; a precaution which shows how 
' little faith is put in the virtue of the women of this 
* country.' In South Africa, among the Bangalas of 
the Cassange valley, ^ the sons of a sister belong to her 
' brother ; and he often sells his nephews to pay his 
' debts ; ' ^ the Banyai ' choose the son of the deceased 
' chiefs sister in preference to his own offspring.' In 
Northern Africa we find the same custom among the 
Berbers ; ^ Burton records it as existing in the North- 
East ; and on the Congo, according to Tuckey, the 
chieftainships ' are hereditary, through the female line, 
' as a precaution to make certain of the blood royal in 
' the succession.'^ Sibree mentions that the same is the 
case in Madagascar, where the custom is defended ex- 
pressly on the ground ' that the descent can be proved 

^ Pinkerton's Voj^ages, vol. xvi. p. 273. 
p. 331. * Livingstone's Travels in South 

^ M^m. Geogr. sur I'Egypte et Africa, pp. 434, 617. 
sur quelques contrees voisines, Paris, ^ La Mere chez certains peuples 

1811. Quoted in Bachofen's Mutter- de I'Antiquite, p. 45. 
recht, p. 108. ^ Tuckey's Exp. to the Kiver 

3 Oaillie's Travels, vol. i. p. 153. Zaire, p. 365. 
Barth's Travels, vol. i. p. 337 ; vol. ii. 



CAUSES AND WIDE DISTBIBUTION OF TEE CUSTOM 153 

* from the mother, while it is often impossible to know 
' the paternity of a child.' ^ 

Herodotus ^ supposed that this custom was peculiar 
to the Lycians : they have, he says, ' one custom pecu- 

* liar to themselves, in which they differ from all other 
' nations ; for they take their name from their mothers, 
' and not from their fathers ; so that if anyone asks 
' another who he is, he will describe himself by his 
' mother's side, and reckon up his maternal ancestry in 
' the female line.' Poly bins makes the same statement 
as regards the Locrians ; and on Etruscan tombs 
descent is stated in the female line. 

In Athens, also, relationship through females pre- 
vailed down to the time of Cecrops. 

Tacitus,^ speaking of the Germans, says, ' Children 
are regarded with equal affection by their maternal 
uncles as by their fathers ; some even consider this as 
the more sacred bond of consanguinity, and prefer it 
in the requisition of hostages.' He adds, ' A person's 
own children, however, are his heirs and successors ; 
no wills are made.' From this it would appear as if 
female inheritance had been recently and not universally 
abandoned. Among the Picts also the throne until a 
late period was always held by right of the female. 
In the Irish Legends it is stated that this was a con- 
dition imposed by Eremon, who when the Picts were 
about to invade Scotland supplied them with wives on 
this condition.^ 

In India the Kasias, the Kocchs, and the Nairs have 



^ Madagascar and its People, ^ De Mor. Germ. xx. 

p. 192. * Ferguson, The Irish before the 

2 Olio, 173. Conquest, p. 129. 



154 NEGLECT OF PATERNAL BELATION 

the system of female kinsliip. BQchanan^ tells us that 
among the Bantar in Tulava a man's property does not 
descend to his own children, but to those of his sister. 
Sir W. Eliot states that the people of Malabar ' all 
' agree in one remarkable usage — that of transmitting 
' property through females only.' ^ He adds, on the 
authority of Lieutenant Conner, that the same is the 
case in Travancore, among all the castes except the 
Ponans and the Namburi Brahman s. 

As Latham states, 'no Nair son knows his own 
' father ; and, vice versa, no Nair father knows his own 
^ son. What becomes of the property of the husband ? 
' It descends to the children of his sister.' ^ 

Among the Limboos (India), a tribe near Darjee- 
ling,* the boys become the property of the father on his 
paying the mother a small sum of money, when the 
child is named and enters his father's tribe : girls re- 
main with the mother, and belong to her tribe. 

Marsden tells us ^ that among the Battas of Sumatra 
' the succession to the chiefships does not go, in the 
^ first instance, to the son of the deceased, but to the 
' nephew by a sister ; and that the same extraordinary 
' rule, with respect to the property in general, prevails 
' also amongst the Malays of that part of the island, 
' and even in the neighbourhood of Padang. The 
' authorities for this are various and unconnected with 
' each other, but not sufficiently circumstantial to 
' induce me to admit it as a generally established 
' practice.' 

^ Vol. iii. p. 16. 4 Campl)ell, Trans. Ethn. Soc, 

2 Trans. Ethn. Soc, 1869, p. 119. N. S., vol. vii. p. 155. 

3 Descriptive Ethnology, vol. ii. ^ Marsden's History of Sumatra^ 
p. 463. p. 376. 



EELATIONSHIF THROUGH FEMALES 155 

Among the Kenaiyers at Cook's Inlet, according to 
Sir Jolm Richardson, property descends, not to a man's 
own children, but to those of his sister.^ The same is 
the case with the Kutchin,^ and it is said generally, 
though not always, among the Columbian Indians.^ 

Carver'* mentions that among the Hudson's Bay 
Indians the children 'are always distinguished by the 
' name of the mother ; and if a woman marries several 
' husbands, and has issue by each of them, they are all 
' called after her. The reason they give for this is, that 
' as their offspring are indebted to the father for their 
' souls, the invisible part of their essence, and to the 
' mother for their corporeal and apparent part, it is. 
' more rational that they should be distinguished by the 
' name of the latter, from whom they indubitably derive 
' their being, than by that of the father, to which a 
' doubt might sometimes arise whether they are justly 
' entitled.' ' Descent amongst the Iroquois is in the 
' female line, both as to the tribe and as to nationality. 
' The children are of the tribe of the mother. If a 
' Cayuga marries a Delaware woman, for example, his 
* children are Dela wares and aliens, unless formally 
' naturalised with the forms of adoption ; but if a 
^ Delaware marries a Cayuga woman, her children are 
' Cayugas, and of her tribe of the Cayugas. It is the 
' same as if she marries a Seneca.' ^ 

In fact, among the North American Indians gene- 
rally, as we shall see more particularly in the next 

^ Boat Journey, vol. i. p. 406. 259; also ante, p. 112. 
2 Smithsonian Keport, 1866, p. ^ Morgan's Syst. of Cons, and 

326. Aff. of the Human Family, p. 165. 

^ Bancroft, vol. i. p. 193. Hunter's Captivity among the North 

* Carver, p. 378. See also p. American Indians, p. 249. 



156 SUBOBDINATION OF FATEENAL UFLATION 

chapter, the relationship of the uncle, that is to say, the 
mother's brother, is more important than any other. 
He is practically the head of his sister's family. Among 
the Choctas, for instance, even now, if a boy is to be 
placed at school, his uncle, and not his father, takes him 
to the mission and makes the arrangement.^ A similar 
rule prevailed in Haiti and Mexico.^ According to 
Gromara, among the Peruvians, except as regards the 
Incas, nephews inherited, not sons. 

As regards Polynesia, Mariner states that in the 
Friendly or Tonga Islands ' nobility descends by the 
' female line ; for when the mother is not a noble, the 
' children are not nobles.' ^ The same custom, or traces 
of it, exist throughout Polynesia, but it would seem that 
these islanders were passing from the stage of relation- 
ship through females to that through males. The 
existence of inheritance through females is clearly indi- 
cated in the Fijian custom known as Vasu. In some 
of the Carolines and Mariannes the highest honour 
passed in the female line.^ In the Hervey Islands, 
children belong either to the tribe of the father or to 
that of the mother, according to arrangement ; gener- 
ally, however, to that of the father.^ 

In Western Australia, ' children of either sex always 
^ take the family name of their mother.' ^ In other 
districts, however, as, for instance, on the Lower 



1 Morgan, loc. cit. p. 158. Antlir. vol. v. pt. ii. pp. 108, 114, 

^ Miiller, Gescli. d. American. 117. 
Urreligionen, pp. 167, 539. ^ Qi^^ Myths of the South 

^ Tonga Islands, vol. ii. pp. 89, Pacific, p. 36. 
91. 6 Eyre, loc. cit. p. 330. Eidley, 

* Hale, United States Ex. Exp., Journal Anthrop. Institute, 1872, 

p. 83. Gerland, Con. of Waitz' p. 264. 



OBIGIN OF BELATIONSHIP IN THE MALE LINE 157 

Murray, a man's children belong to his tribe, and not 
to that of the mother.^ 

Among the ancient Jews, Abraham married his 
half sister, Nahor married his brother's daughter, and 
Amram his father's sister ; this was permitted because 
they were not regarded as relations. Tamar also evi- 
dently might have married Amnon, though they were 
both children of David : ' Speak unto the king,' she 
said, ' for he will not withhold me from thee ; ' for, as 
their mothers were not the same, they were no relations 
in the eye of the law. Solon also permitted marriage 
with sisters on the father's side, but not on the 
mother's. 

Here, therefore, we have abundant evidence of the 
second stage, in which the child is related to the 
mother, and not to the father ; whence a man's heir is 
his nephew on the sister's side — not his own child, who 
is in some cases regarded as no relation to him at all. 

When, however, marriage became more respected, 
and the family affections stronger, it is easy to see that 
the rule under which a man's property went to his 
sister's children would become unpopular, both with 
the father, who would naturally wish his children to 
inherit his property, and not less so with the children 
themselves. This change is even now in process 
among the more civilised North American Indians.^ 

M. Girard Teulon, indeed, to whom we are indebted 
for a very interesting memoir on this subject,^ regards 
the first recognition of his parental relationship as an 

1 Taplin, Tlie Narinyeri, p. 10, ^ La Mere chez certains peuples 

2 Report of the Peabody Museum, de 1' Antiquity. 
vol. iii. p. 214. 



158 CHANGE FEOM FEMALE TO MALE KINSHIP 

act of noble self-devotion on the part of some great 
genius in ancient times. ' Le premier/ he says, ' qui 
' consentit a se reconnaitre pere fut un homme de genie 
^ et de coeur, un des grands bienfaiteurs de I'humanite. 
^ Prouve en efFet que I'enfant t'appartient. Es-tu sur 
' qu'il est un autre toi-meme, ton fruit ? que tu I'as 
' enfante ? ou bien, a I'aide d'une genereuse et volon- 
' taire credulite, marches-tu, noble inventeur, a la con- 
' quete d'un but superieur ? ' 

Bachofen also, while characterising the change from 
female to male relationship as the ' wichtigsten Wende- 
^ punktin der Geschichte des Geschlechts-Yerhaltnisses,' 
explains it, as I cannot but think, in an altogether erro- 
neous manner. He regards it as a liberation of the 
spirit from the deceptive appearances of nature, [an 
elevation of human existence above the laws of mere 
matter ; as a recognition that the creative power is the 
most important ; and, in short, as a subordination of the 
material to the spiritual part of our nature. By this 
step, he says, ' man durchbricht die Bander des Tellu- 
' rismus, und erhebt seinen Blick zu den hohern Eegionen 
' des Kosmos.' ^ 

These seem to me, I confess, very curious notions, 
and I cannot at all agree with them. The recognition 
of paternal responsibility grew up, I believe, gradually 
through the impulses of natural alFection. The adoption 
of relationship through the father's line, instead of 
through the mother's, was probably effected by the natural 
wish which everyone would feel that his property should 
go to his own children. It is true that we have not many 
cases like that of Athens, in which there is a record of 

^ Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht; p. 27. 



CHANGE FROM FJBMALJEJ TO MALE KINSHIP 159 

this change ; but as it is easy to see how it might 
have been brought about, and difficult to suppose 
that the opposite step can ever have been made ; as, 
moreover, we find relationship through the father very 
general, not to say universal, in civilised races, while 
the opposite system is very common among savages, it 
is evident that this change must frequently have been 
effected. 

Taking all these facts, then, into consideration, when- 
ever we find relationship through females only, I think 
we may safely look upon it as the relic of an ancient 
barbarism. 

As soon as the change was made, the father would take 
the place held previously by the mother, and the father, 
instead of the mother, would be regarded as the parent. 
Hence, on the birth of a child, the father would natur- 
ally be very careful what he did, and what he ate, for 
fear the child should be injured. Thus, I believe, 
arises the curious custom of the Couvade to which I 
referred in my first chapter. 

Relationship to the father at first excludes that 
to the mother, and, from having been regarded as no 
relation to the former, children came to be looked on as 
none to the latter. 

In some parts of South America, where it is cus- 
tomary to treat captives well in every respect for a 
certain time, giving them clothes, food, a wife, &c., and 
then to kill and eat them, any children they may have 
are killed and eaten also.^ As a general rule inherit- 
ance and relationship go together ; but in some parts of 
Australia, while the old rule of tracing descent through 

1 Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 307. 



160 SYSTEM OF KINSHIP TEEOUGH MALES 

the mother still exists, property is inherited in the male 
line/ though it appears that the division is made during 
the father's life. 

How completely the idea of relationship through 
the father, when once recognised, might replace that 
through the mother, we may see in the very curious 
trial of Orestes. Agamemnon, having been murdered 
by his wife Clytemnestra, Avas avenged by their son 
Orestes, who killed his mother for the murder of his 
father. For this act he was prosecuted before the 
tribunal of the gods by the Erinnyes, whose function it 
was to punish those who shed the blood of relatives. 
In his defence, Orestes asks them why they did not 
punish Clytemnestra for the murder of Agamemnon ; 
and when they reply that marriage does not constitute 
blood relationship, — ' She was not the kindred of the 
' man whom she slew,' — he pleads that by the same 
rule they cannot touch him^ because a man is a relation 
to his father, but not to his mother. This view, though 
it seems to us so unnatural, was supported by Apollo 
and Minerva, and being adopted by the majority of the 
gods, led to the acquittal of Orestes. 

Hence we see that the views prevalent on relation- 
ship — views by which the whole social organisation is 
so profoundly affected — are by no means the same 
among different races, nor uniform at the same histori- 
cal period. We ourselves still confuse affinity and con- 
sanguinity ; but into this part of the question it is not 
my intention to enter : the evidence brought forward 
in the preceding pages is, however, I think, sufficient 
to show that children were not in the earliest times 

^ Grey's Australia, vol. ii. pp. 226, 236. 



THE FEESENT SYSTEM 161 

regarded as related equally to their father and their 
mother, but that the natural progress of ideas is, first, 
that a child is related to his tribe generally ; secondly, 
to his mother, and not to his father ; thirdly, to his 
father, and not to his mother ; lastly, and lastly only, 
that he is related to both. 



M 



162 



CHAPTER Y. 

ON THE DEVELOPMENT OE EELATIONSHIPS. 

IN the previous chapter I have discussed the ques- 
tion of marriage as it exists among the lower races 
of men, and the relation of children to their parents. In 
the present, I propose to consider the question of rela- 
tionships in general, and to endeavour to trace up the 
ideas on this subject from their rudest form to that in 
which they exist amongst more civilised races. 

For the facts on which this chapter is based we are 
mainly indebted to Mr. Morgan, who has collected a great 
mass of information on the subject, which has recently 
been published by the Smithsonian Institution. Though 
I dissent from Mr. Morgan's main conclusions, his work 
appears to me one of the most valuable contributions 
to ethnological science which has appeared for many 
years. ^ It contains schedules, most of which are very 
complete, giving the systems .of relationships of no less 
than 139 races or tribes ; and we have, therefore (though 
there are still many lamentable deficiencies — the Sibe- 
rians, South Americans, and true Negroes being, for 
instance, as yet unrepresented), a great body of evidence 
illustrating the ideas on the subject of relationships 
which prevail among different races of men. 

^ Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, by 
L. H. Morgan, 1870. 



ON TEE DEVELOPMENT OF BELATI0N8HIPS 163 

Oar own system of relationships naturally follows 
from the marriage of single pairs ; and it is, in its gene- 
ral nomenclature, so mere a description of the actual 
facts, that most persons tacitly regard it as necessarily 
general to the human race, with, of course, verbal and 
unimportant differences in detail. Hence but little in- 
formation can- be extracted from dictionaries and voca- 
bularies. They generally, for instance, give words for 
uncle, aunt, and cousin ; but an uncle may be either a 
father's brother or a mother's brother, and an aunt may 
be either a father's sister or a mother's sister ; a first 
cousin, again, may be the child of any one of these four 
uncles and aunts ; but practically, as we shall see, these 
cases are in many races distinguished from one another ; 
and I may add, in passing, it is by no means clear that 
we are right in regarding them as identical and equiva- 
lent. Travellers have, on various occasions, noticed 
with surprise some special peculiarity of nomenclature 
which came under their notice ; but Mr. Morgan was the 
first to collect complete schedules of relationships. The 
special points which have been observed have, indeed, 
been generally regarded as mere eccentricities ; but this 
is evidently not the case, because the principle or prin- 
ciples to which they are due are consistently carried 
out, and the nomenclature is reciprocal generally, 
though not quite without exceptions. Thus, if the 
Mohawks call a father's brother, not an uncle, but a 
father, they not only call his son a brother and his 
grandson a son, but these descendants also use the 
correlative terms. 

We must remember that our ideas of relationships 
are founded on our social system, and that, as other 



164 DIFFERENT 8Y8TEM8 OF BELATI0N8HIPS 

races have very different habits and ideas on this sub= 
ject, it is natural to expect that their systems of rela- 
tionship would also differ from ours. I have in the 
previous chapter pointed out that the ideas and customs 
with reference to marriage are very dissimilar in dif- 
ferent races, and we may say, as a general rule, that, 
as we descend in the scale of civilisation, the family 
diminishes, and the tribe increases, in importance. 
Words have a profound influence over thought, and 
true family-names prevail principally among the highest 
races of men. Even m the less advanced portions of 
our own country, we know that collective names were 
those of the tribe, rather than the family. 

I have already mentioned that among the Romans 
the ' family ' was not a natural family in our sense of 
the term. It was founded,^ not on marriage, but on 
power. The family of a chief consisted, not of those 
allied to him by blood, but of those over whom he 
exercised control. Hence, an emancipated son ceased 
to be one of the family, and did not, except by will, 
take any share in his father's ]3roperty ; on the other 
hand, the wife introduced into the family by marriage, 
or the stranger converted into a son by adoption, 
became regularly recognised members of the family, 
though no blood tie existed. 

Marriage, again, in Rome, was symbolised by cap- 
ture or purchase, as among so many of the lower races 
at the present day. In fact, the idea of marriage 
among the lower races of men generally is essentially 
of a different character from ours ; it is material, not 
spiritual ; it is founded on force, not on love ; the wife 

^ See Ortolan's Justinian, p. 126, et seq. 



CLASSIFICATION OF SYSTFMS 165 

is not united with, but enslaved to, her husband. Of 
such a system traces, and more than traces, still exist 
in our own country : our customs, indeed, are more 
advanced, and wives enjoy a very different status in 
reality, to that which they occupy in law. Among 
the Redskins, however, the wife is a mere servant to 
her husband, and there are cases on record in which 
husband and wife, belonging originally to different 
tribes, have lived together for years without either 
caring to acquire the other's language, satisfied to com- 
municate with one another entirely by signs. 

It must, however, be observed that, though the 
Redskin family is constituted in a manner very unlike 
ours, still the nomenclature of relationships is founded 
upon it, such as it is, and has no relation to the tribal 
system, as will presently be shown. 

Mr. Morgan divides the systems of relationships 
into two great classes, the descriptive and the classifica- 
tory, which he regards as radically distinct. The first, 
he says (p. 12), ' which is that of the Aryan, Semitic, 
^ and Urahan families, rejecting the classification of 

* kindred, except so far as it is in accordance with the 
' numerical system, describes collateral consanguinei, 
' for the most part, by an augmentation or combination 

* of the primary terms of relationship. The second, 
^ which is that of the Turanian, American Indian, and 
^ Malayan families, rejectmg descriptive phrases in every 
^instance, and reducing consanguinei to great classes 

' by a series of apparently arbitrary generalisations, 
' applies the same terms to all the members of the same 
' class. It thus confounds relationships, which, under 
■' the descriptive system, are distinct, and enlarges the 



166 NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE 

' signification both of the primary and secondary terms 
' beyond their seemingly appropriate sense.' 

While, however, I fully admit the immense diifer- 
ence between, say, our English system and that of the 
Kingsmill Islanders, as shown in Table I.^ opposite, 
they seem to me to be rather the extremes of a series 
than founded on different ideals. 

Mr. Morgan admits that systems of relationships 
have undergone a gradual development, following that 
of the social condition ; but he also attributes to them 
great value in the determination of ethnological affini- 
ties. I am not sure that I exactly understand his 
views as to the precise bearing of these two conclusions 
in relation to one another ; and I have elsewhere ^ given 
m}^ reasons for dissenting from his interpretation of the 
facts in reference to social relations. I shall, therefore, 
now confine myself to the question of the bearing of 
systems of relationships on questions of ethnological 
affinity, and to a consideration of the manner in which 
the various systems have arisen. As might naturally 
have been expected, Mr. Morgan's information is most 
full and complete with reference to the North American 
Indians. Of these, he gives the terms for no less than 
268 relationships in about seventy different tribes. Of 
these relationships, some are, for our present j^urposes, 
much more important than others. The most signifi- 
cant are the following : — 

1. Brother's son and dauofhter. 

2. Sister's son and daughter. 

^ I have constructed this table in a manner which seems to me 

from Mr. Morgan's schedules, select- more instructive than that adopted 

ing the relationships which are the by Mr. Morgan, 
most significant, and arranging them ^ Jour. Anthr. Inst. vol. i. 



UPS. 



12 

Kappir 



Uncle 

Cousin 
Son 

? 

Grandctiild 

Father 

Brother, B. or Y. 
Son 

? 

G-randchild 

Uncle 

Brother, B. or Y. 
Son 

? 
Grandchild 

Aunt 

Brother, B. or Y. 
Son 

? 
G-randchild 

Grandfather 

Grandmother 

Son 

Son 

Son 

Son 

Grandchild 

Grandchild 



13 

MOHIGA 



Uncle 

Stepbrother 
Stepchild 
Stepchild 
Grandson 

Stepmother 

Stepbrother 
Stepchild 
Stepchild 
Grandchild 

Stepfather 

Stepfather 
Stepchild 

Grandchild 

Mother 

Brother, E. 
Stepchild 
Stepchild 
Grandchild 

Grandfather 

Grandmothe 

Stepson 

Stepson 

Nephew 

Sou 

Grandchild 

Grandchild 



the Tamil. 



HIPS. 



^ Eighteen 





10 


11 




Hare 


Omaha 


Mother's brother 


Uncle 




Cousin 


Uncle 




Son 


Uncle 




? 


Uncle 




Son 


Brother, E. i 




Son 


Brother, E. 




Grandson 


Uncle 




Aunt 


Aunt 




Cousin 


Nephew 




Son 


Grandchild 




Son 


Grandchild 




Son 


Grandchild 




Son 


Grandchild 



Table I.— SYSTEMS OF RELATIONSHIPS. 



sister's son, SLS. 

Brothor's sou's soi 
Sister's sou's son 



TWO-MOONTAI> 



Secuiid littlti ! 

. ' Brother, E. ur Y. 

Grfiudsou I 

Little Motlier, or 



I Uncle 



iil*miile 1 Graudsou 

I Motlier 
, E. or Y. Brother, B. or Y. 



Brother, E. or Y. 

Nephew 
Graiidehild 

Little father 

Brother, E. or Y. 

Nephew 



Grandmother 



Grimdchild mole i Grandson 



Mother, I 



Brother. E. or "i 



' Grandmother 

j Neiihew 



Grandson 


Srandsin 


Grandson 


Mother 


Mother 


Mother 


Brother, E. or T. 
SSn 


Brother, E. or y. 


Brother 
Bo°y _ 


Grandfather 


Grandfather 


GrandfatuSr 


Grandmother 


Grandmother 


Grandmother 



Brother, E. or Y. 

? 
Grfuidohild 

' Brother, E. or T. 



13 


U 


15 


10 


17 


MOllIOAS 


H..„. 


Oa.. 


Ojibwa (Lake 
Mieliigim) 


Kirks 


Uncle 


Uncle 


Uncle 


Unele 


■ Uuele 


Sf 


Nephew 
Gmndson 


GrandohUd 


Coujln 

iSiud 


§?ptw ; 


Stepmother 


Annt 


... 


Amit 


' Aunt 


Stepchild 
Stepchild 


Grandson 


■s 


s. 


■ Gnvmlsou 




Uncle 


stepfather 


«»» 


Undo 


Stepfather 
Stepchild 


Brother 
Nephew 


Stepson 
^■"Tild 


sr 

Gmudohild 


:°N7ptw , 

• Grandson 


Mother 


Aunt 


Stepmother 


Stepmother 


1 Annt 


Brother, E. or T. 


Brother 


Brother, E. or Y. 


Stepbrother 


Co»f . 



d! N. 



I The Tehigii aud Caimrese s 



Tamil nud Fijiflii 



Table II.— SYSTEMS OF EELATIONSHIPS. 



' 


REDKxnTSS 




MIOMAOS 


6 


6 
Cow 


«?:— 


Gi....dLw... 


CllEhOKEE 


HABE 


OMAHA 


SAWK ASD F..X 


OXEIbA 


OTAWA 


Mother's brother . . . . 


Uncle 




Uncle 


Uncle 


Elder broth 






Uncle 


Mother's brother 


Uncle 


Uncle 


Uncle 


Unele 
Cousin 






















Uncle 














Stepbrother 






Grandchild 












Nephew 








Nephew 


Stepbrother 




Grandson 




Grandchild 






UratWr. E. or Y. 












Nephew 


Grandchild 






Grandchild 


























Grandchild 




































M.,tlu-r 






Aunt 
















Aunt 






























































Nei;!;;;;; 


:; :; d„;.ht^i;^tM.s; 


loS 


Kephew 


Nephew 
Nephew 


llew 


:; 


Brother 


Brother 




iz 


GraSdehlld 


Grandchild 


Nephew 


''•^' 


Son 










Father 


Brother 


Eather 


Son 


GmnddnUl 








ADDRESSING PERSONS BY RELATIONSHIPS 167 

3. Motlier's brother. 

4. Mother's brother's son. 

5. Father's sister. 

6. Father's sister's son. 

7. Father's brother. 

8. Father's brother's son. 

9. Mother's sister. 

10. Mother's sister's son. 

11. Grandfather's brother. 

12. Brothers' and sisters' grandchildren. 

Now let me call attention to the Wyandot system as 
shown in column 8 of Table I. It will be observed 
that a mother's brother is called an nncle ; his son a 
cousin ; his grandson a son when a male is speaking, a 
nephew when a female is speaking ; his great-grandson 
a grandson. A father's sister is termed an aunt ; her 
son a cousin ; her grandson a son ; her great-grandson 
a grandson. A father s brother is a father ; his son a 
brother, distinguished, however, by different terms ac- 
cording as he is older or younger than the speaker ; his 
grandson a son ; his great-grandson a grandson. A 
mother's sister is a mother ; ^ her son is a brother, dis- 
tinguished as before ; her grandson a son when a male 
is speaking, a nephew when a female is speaking. A 
grandfather's brother is a grandfather ; and a grand- 
father's sister is a grandmother. A brother's son is a 
son when a male is speaking, but a nephew when a 

* In Madagascar ' first cousins ' that we learn the exact degree of 

' are usually termed brother and ' relationship. These secondary fa- 

* sister, and uncles and aunts father ' thers and mothers seem often to be 

^ and mother respectively ; and it is ' regarded with little less affection 

' only by asking distinctly of persons ' than the actual parents.' — Sibre^'s 

' whether they are " of one father " Madagascar and its People, p. 192. 
' or are " uterine brother and sister," 



168 ADDRESSING PERSONS BY RELATIONSHIPS 

female is speaking ; while a sister's son is a nephew 
when a male is speaking, but a son when a female is 
speaking. Lastly, brothers' grandchildren and sisters' 
o-randchildren are called ^grandchildren. 

This system, at first, strikes one as illogical and in- 
consistent. How can a person have more than one 
mother? How can a brother's son be a son, or an 
uncle's great-grandson a grandson ? Again, while 
classing together several relationships which we justly 
separate, it distinguishes between elder and younger 
brothers and sisters ; and in several cases the relation- 
ship depends on the sex of the speaker. Since, how- 
ever, a similar system prevails over a very wide area, it 
cannot be dismissed as a mere arbitrary or accidental 
arrangement. The system is, moreover, far from being 
merely theoretical, in every- day use. Every member 
of the tribe knows his exact relationship to each other, 
according to this system ; and this knowledge is kept 
up by the habit, general among the American tribes, and 
occurring also elsewhere — as, for instance, among the 
Esquimaux, the Tamils, Telugus, Chinese, Japanese, 
Fijians, &c. — of addressing a person, not by his 
name, but by his relationship. Among the Telugus 
and Tamils an elder may address a younger by name, 
but a younger must always use the term for relationship 
in speaking to an elder. This custom is, probably, 
connected with the curious superstitions about names ; 
but, however it may have arisen, the result is that an 
Indian addresses his neighbour as ' my father,' ' my son,' 
or ' my brother,' as the case may be : if not related, he 
says ^ my friend.' 

Thus the system is kept up by daily use ; nor is 



8IMILABITIE8 OF SYSTEM 169 

it a mere mode of expression. Although, in many 
respects, opposed to the existing customs and ideas, it 
is, in some, entirely consonant with them : thus, among 
many of the Redskin tribes if a man marries the eldest 
girl in a family he can claim in marriage all the others 
as they successively come to maturity ; this custom 
exists among the Shyennes, Omahas, lowas, Kaws, 
Osages, Blackfeet, Crees, Minnitarees, Crows, and other 
tribes. I have already mentioned that among the 
Redskins, generally, the mother's brother exercises a 
more than paternal authority over his sister's children. 
I shall have occasion to refer again to this remarkable 
exaggeration of avuncular authority. 

Mr. Morgan was much surprised to find that a 
system more or less like that of the Wyandots was very 
general among the Redskins of North America ; but 
he was still more astonished to find that the Tamil 
races of India have one almost identical. A com- 
parison of columns 8 and 9 in Table I. will show that 
this is the case, and the similarity is even more striking 
in Mr. Morgan's tables, where a larger number of rela- 
tionships is given. 

How, then, did this system arise? How is it to be 
accounted for ? It is by no means consonant, in all 
respects, to the present social conditions of the races in 
question ; nor does it agree with tribal affinities. The 
American Indians generally follow the custom of exo- 
gamy, as it has been called by Mr. M'Lennan — that is 
to say, no one is permitted to marry within the clan ; 
and as descent goes in the female line, a man's brother's 
son, though called his son, belongs to a difi'erent clan ; 
while his sister's son does belong to the clan, though he 



170 BED SKIN 8 AND TAMIL RACES 

is regarded as a nephew, and consequently as less 
closely connected. Hence a man's nephew belongs to 
his clan, but his son belongs to a different clan. 

Mr. Morgan discusses, at some length/ the conclu- 
sions to be drawn from the wide extension of this system 
over the American continent, and its presence also in 
India. ' The several hypotheses/ he says, ' of accidental 
' concurrent invention, of borrowing from each other, 
' and of spontaneous growth, are entirely inadequate.' '^ 
With reference to the hypothesis of independent develop- 
ment in disconnected areas, he observes that it pos- 
^ sesses both plausibility and force.' It has, therefore, 
he adds, 'been made a subject of not less careful study 
' and reflection than the system itself. Not until after 
' a patient analysis and comparison of its several forms 
^ upon the extended scale in which they are given in 
' the tables, and not until after a careful consideration 
' of the functions of the system, as a domestic institu- 
' tion, and of the evidence of its mode of propagation 
' from age to age, did these doubts finally give way, and 
' the insufficiency of this hypothesis to account for the 
' origin of the system many times over, or even a second 
' time, became fully apparent.' 

And again, ' if the two families — i.e. the Redskin 
* and the Tamil — commenced on separate continents in 
' a state of promiscuous intercourse, havmg such a 
' system of consanguinity as this state would beget, of 
' the character of which no conception can be formed, 
' it would be little less than a miracle if both should 
' develop the same system of relationship.' ^ He con- 

1 See, for instance, pp. 157, 392, 394, 421, 456, &c. 

2 Loc. cit. p. 495. 3 j^Qc^ ^it p. 505. 



IlEDSKINS AND TAMIL EACES 171 

eludes, then, that it must be due to ' transmission with 
' the blood from a common original source. If the four 
'hypotheses named cover and exhaust the subject, and 
' the first three are incapable of explaining the present 
' existence of the system in the two families, then 
' the fourth and last, if capable of accountmg for its 
' transmission, becomes transformed into an established 
' conclusion.' ^ 

That there is any near alliance between the Eedskin 
and Tamil races would be an ethnological conclusion 
of great importance. It does not, however, seem to me 
to be borne out by the evidence. The Pijian system, 
with which the Tongan is almost identical, is very 
instructive in this respect, and scarcely seems to have 
received from Mr. Morgan the consideration which it 
merits. Now, columns 9, 10, and 11 of Table I. show 
that the Fijian, Tongan, and Australian systems are 
almost identical with the Tamil. "'^ If, then, this similarit}^ 
is, in the case of the Tamil, proof of close ethnological 
affinity between that race and the Redskins, it must 
equally be so in reference to the Fijians, the Tongans, 
and the Australians. It is, however, well known that 
these races belong to very distinct divisions of mankind, 
and any facts which prove similarity between these 
races, however interesting and important they may be 
as proofs of identity in human character and history, 
can obviously have no bearing on special ethnological 
affinities. Moreover, it seems clear, as I shall attempt 
presently to show, that the Tongans have not used 
their present system ever since their ancestors "first 

* Ibid. See also p. 497. Australia the system appears to be 

^ In some parts, at any rate, of very similar. 



172 MALAYANS— FIJIANS 

landed on the Pacific Islands, but that it has subse- 
quently developed itself from a far ruder system, which 
is still in existence in many of the surrounding islands. 

I may also observe that the Two- Mountain Iroquois, 
whose close ethnological affinity with the Wyandot s no 
one will question, actually agree, as shown by columns 3 
and 4 of Table L, more nearly with this ruder Pacific, 
or, as Morgan calls it, ' Malayan ' system than they do 
with that of the neighbouring American tribes. 

For these and other reasons, I think it impossible 
to adopt Mr. Morgan's views, either on the causes 
which have led to the existence of the Tamil system, or 
as to the ethnological conclusions which follow from it. 

How, then, have these systems arisen, and how can 
we account for such remarkable similarities between 
races so distinct, and so distant, as the Wyandots, 
Tamils, Fijians, and Tongans ? In illustration of 
my views on this subject, I have constructed the 
preceding table (Table L), in which I have given the 
translation of the native words, and, when one word is 
used for several relationships, have translated it by the 
simplest. Thus, in Fijian, the word ' Tamanngu ' — 
literally ' Tama my,' the suffix ' nngu ' meaning ' my ' 
— is applied, not only to a father, but to a father's 
brother ; hence, as the father is the more important, we 
say that they call a father's brother a father. 

In many cases the origins of the terms for relation- 
ships are undeterminable ; I shall discuss some in a 
subsequent chapter. Others, however, have so far 
withstood the wear and tear of daily use as to be still 
traceable. 

Thus, in Polish, the word for my great-uncle is. 



NOMENGLATCfBE OF RELATIONSHIPS 173 

literally, ' my cold grandfather ; ' the word for ' wife ' 
among the Crees is ' part of myself ; ' that for husband, 
among the Choctas, is ' he who leads me ; ' a daughter- 
in-law among the Delawares is called ' Nah-hmn,' 
literally, ' my cook ; ' for which ungracious expression, 
however, they make amends by their word for husband 
or wife, ' Wee-chaa-oke,' which is, literally, ' my aid 
' through life.' 

It might, a priori^ be supposed that the nomencla- 
ture of relationships would be greatly affected by the 
question of male or female descent. This, however, 
does not appear to be the case. Under a system of 
female descent, combined with exogamy, a man must 
marry out of his tribe ; and, as his children belong to 
their mother's tribe, it follows that a man's children do 
not belong to his tribe. On the other hand, a woman's 
children, whomsoever she may marry, belong to her 
tribe. Hence, while neither a man's nor his brother's 
children belong to the same tribe as himself, his sister' & 
children must do so, and are, in consequence, often 
regarded as his heirs. In fact, for all practical purposes, 
among many of the Redskin and other tribes, a man's 
sister's sons are regarded as his children. 

As we have already seen, this remarkable custom 
prevails, not only among the Redskins, but also in 
various other parts of the world. As regards the 
native tribes of North America, it may also be laid 
down as a general proposition that the mother's brother 
exercises more authority over his sister's children than 
does their father. He has a recognised right to any 
property they may acquire, if he choose to exercise it ; 
he can sive orders which a true father would not 



174 NOMENGLATUBE OF EELATIONSHIPS 

venture to issue ; he arranges the marriages of his 
nieces, and is entitled to share in the price paid for 
them. The same custom prevails even among the semi- 
civilised races ; for instance, among the Choctas the 
uncle, not the father, sends a boy to school. 

Yet among these very tribes a man's sister's son is 
called his nephew, while his brother's son is called his 
son. 

Thus, although a man's mother's brother is called 
an uncle, he has, in reality, more power and responsi- 
bility than the true father. The true father is classed 
with the father's brother and the mother's sister ; but 
the mother's brother stands by himself, and, although 
he is called an uncle, he exercises the real parental 
power, and on him rests the parental responsibility. In 
fact, while the names of relationships follow the mar- 
riage customs, the ideas are guided by the tribal 
organisation. Hence we see that not only do the ideas 
of the several relationships, among the lower races of 
men, diiFer from ours ; but the idea of relationship, as 
a whole, is, so to say, embryonic, and subsidiary to that 
of the tribe. 

In fact, the idea of relationship, like that of mar- 
riage, was founded, not upon duty, but upon power. 
Only with the gradual elevation of the race has the 
latter been subordinated to the former. 

I have endeavoured to illustrate the various sys- 
tems of relationships by Table I. (opposite p. 166), 
which begins with the Hawaiian, or Sandwich Island 
system. 

The Hawaiian language is rich in terms for rela- 
tionships. A grandparent is ' Kupuna,' a parent is 



TBE HAWAIIAN SYSTEM 175 

' Makua,' a child ' Kaikee/ a son-in-law, or daughter-in- 
law, is ' Hunona,' a grandchild ' Moopuna ; ' brothers in 
the plural are ' Hoahanau ; ' a brother-in-law, or sister- 
in-law, is addressed as ' Kaikoeke ; ' there are special 
words for brother and sister according to age and sex ; 
thus, a boy speaking of an elder brother, and a girl 
speaking of an elder sister, use the term ' Kai-kuuana ; ' 
a boy speaking of a younger brother, or a girl of a 
younger sister, uses the word ' Kaikaina ; ' a boy speak- 
ing of a sister calls her ' Kaikuwahine,' while a sister calls 
a brother, whether older or younger, ' Kai-kuaana.' 
They also recognise some relationships for which we 
have no special terms ; thus, an adopted son is ' Hanai ; ' 
the parents of a son-in-law, or daughter-in-law, are 
' Puluna ; ' a man addresses his brother-in-law, and a 
woman her sister-in-law, as ' Punalua ; ' lastly, the word 
' Kolea ' has no corresponding term in English. 

It will be observed that these relationships are con- 
ceived in a manner entirely unlike ours ; we make no 
difference between an elder brother and a younger 
brother, nor does the term used depend on the sex of 
the speaker. The contrast between the two systems is, 
however, much more striking when we come to con- 
sider the deficiencies of the Hawaiian system, as indi- 
cated in the nomenclature. Thus, there is no word for 
cousin, none for uncle or aunt, nephew or niece, son or 
daughter ; nay, while there is a word indicating parent, 
there is said to be none for father or even for mother. 

The principal features of this interesting system, 
so elaborate, yet so rude, are indicated in the second 
column of Table I. I have already mentioned that 
there is no word for father or mother : for the latter 



176 TEE HAWAIIAN SYSTEM 

they say ' parent female,' for the former, ' parent male ; ' 
but the term ' parent male ' is not confined to the true 
parent, but is applied equally to the father's brother 
and mother's brother ; while the term ' parent female ' 
denotes also father's sister and mother's sister. Thus, 
uncleships and auntships are ignored, and a child may 
have several fathers and several mothers. In the suc- 
ceeding generation, as a man calls his brother's and 
sister's children his children, so do they regard him 
as their father. Again, as a mother's brother and a 
father's brother are termed ' parents male,' a mother's 
sister and father's sister, ' parents female,' their sons are 
regarded as brothers, and their daughters as sisters. 
Lastly, a man calls the children of these constructive 
brothers and sisters, equally with those of true brothers 
and sisters, his children ; and their children, his grand- 
children. 

The term ' parent male,' then, denoted not only a 
man's father, 

but also his father's brother 

and mother's brother ; 

while the term ' parent female ' in the same way 
denotes not only a man's mother, 

but also his mother's sister 

and father's sister. 

There are, in fact, six classes of parents : three on the 
male side, and three on the female. 

The term, ' my elder brother,' or ' younger brother,' 
as the case may be,^ stands also for my 

^ Among tlie Australians, near ^ for brother and sister always involve 

Sydney, ' brothers and sisters speak ' the distinction of elder or younger/ 

' of one another by titles that indicate — Ridley, Journ. Anthr. Inst., vol. 

' relative age ; that is, their words xxvi. p. 266. 



TH:E] HAWAIIAN SYSTmi 177 

Mother's brother's son, 

Mother's sister's son, 

Father's brother's son, 

Father's sister's son, 
while their children, again, are all my grandchildren. 
Here there is a succession of generations, but no 
family. We find here no words for true fathers and 
mothers, uncles or aunts, nephews or nieces, but only 

Grandparents, 

Parents, 

Brothers and sisters, 

Children and 

Grandchildren. 
This nomenclature is actually in use, and so far from 
having become obsolete, being in Fiji combined with 
inheritance through females, and the custom of im- 
mediate inheritance, gives a nephew the right to take 
his mother's brother's property : a right which is 
frequently exercised, and never questioned, although 
apparently moderated by custom. It will very likely 
be said, that though the word ^son,' for instance, is used 
to include many who are really not sons, it by no 
means follows that a man should regard himself as 
equally related to all his so-called ' sons.' And this 
is true, but not in the manner which might have been 
a priori expected. For, as many among the lower races 
of men have the system of inheritance through females, 
it follows that they consider their sister's children to 
be in reality more nearly related to them, not only than 
their brother's children, but even than their very own 
children. Hence we see that these terms, son, father, 
mother, &c., which to us imply relationship, have not 



178 THE HAWAIIAN SYSTEM 

strictly, in all cases, this significance, but rather imply 
the relative position in the tribe. 

Additional evidence of this is afforded by the re- 
strictions on marriage which follow the tribe, and not 
the terms. Thus the customs of a tribe may, and con- 
stantly do, forbid marriage with one set of constructive 
sisters or brothers, but not with another. 

The system shown in column 2 is not apparently 
confined to the Sandwich Islands, but occurs also in 
other islands of the Pacific. Thus, the Kingsmill 
system, as shown in column 3, is essentially similar, 
though they have made one step in advance, having 
devised words for father and mother. Still, however, 
the same term is applied to a father's brother and a 
mother's brother as to a father : and to a father's sister 
and a mother's sister as to a mother ; consequently, 
first cousins are still called brothers and sisters, and 
their children and grandchildren are called children 
and grandchildren. 

The habits of the South Sea Islanders, the entire 
absence of privacy in their houses, their objection to 
sociable meals, and other points in their mode of life, 
have probably favoured the survival of a very rude 
system, though the nomenclature is not in accordance 
with their present social and family relations, but in- 
dicates a time when these were less developed than at 
present. We know as yet no other part of the world 
where the nomenclature of relationships is so primitive. 

Yet a near approach is made by the system of the 
Two-Mountain Iroquois, which is, perhaps, the lowest 
yet observed in America. In this tribe a brother's 
children are still regarded as sons, and a woman calls 



AMEBIC AN SYSTEMS 179 

her sister's children her sons ; a man, however, does 
not regard his sister's children as his children, but dis- 
tinguishes them by a special term ; they become his 
nephews. This distinction between relationships, which 
we regard as identical, has its basis in, and is in accord- 
ance with, American marriage customs. Unfortunately 
I have no means of ascertaining whether these rules 
prevail among the tribes in question, but they are so 
general among the Indians of North America that in al] 
probability it is the case. One of these customs is that 
if a man marries a girl who has younger sisters, he 
thereby acquires a right to those younger sisters as 
they successively arrive at maturity.^ This right is 
w^idely recognised, and frequently acted upon. The 
first wife makes no objection, for the work which fell 
heavily on her is divided with another, and it is easy to 
see that, when polygamy prevails, it would be uncom- 
plimentary to refuse a wife who legally belonged to you. 
Hence a woman regfards her sister's sons as her sons : 
they may be, in fact, the sons of her husband : any 
other hypothesis is uncomplimentary to the sister. 
Throughout the North American races, therefore, we 
shall find that a woman calls her sister's children her 
children ; in no case does she term them nephews or 
nieces, though in some few tribes she distinguishes 
them from her own children by calling them step- 
children. 

Another general rule in America, as elsewhere, is 
that no one may marry within his own clan or family. 
It has been shown in the previous chapter that this rule 
is not only general in North America, but widely 

^ Arcli£eol. Amer. vol. ii. p. 109. 

n2 



180 AMEEIOAN SYSTEMS 

prevalent elsewhere. The result is, that as a woman 
and her brother belong to one family, her husband must 
be chosen from another. Hence, while a man's father's 
brother and sister belong to his clan, and his mother's 
sister, being one of his father's wives, is a member of 
the family — one of the fire- circle, if I may so say — the 
mother's brother is necessarily neither a member of the 
fire- circle nor even of the clan. Hence, while a father's 
sister and mother's sister are called mother, and a 
father's brother father, in most of the Eedskin tribes 
the marriage rules exclude the mother's brother, who 
is accordingly distinguished by a special term, and in 
fact is recognised as uncle. Thus we can understand 
how it is that of the six classes of parents mentioned 
above, the mother's brother is the first to be distin- 
guished from the rest by a special name. It will, how- 
ever, be seen by the table that among the Two-Mountain 
Iroquois a mother's brother's son is called brother, his 
grandson son, and so on. This shows that he also was 
once called ' father,' as in Polynesia, for in no other man- 
ner can such a system of nomenclature be accounted 
for. All the other relationships, as given in the table, 
are, it will be seen, identical with those recognised in 
the Hawaiian and Kingsmill systems. Thus, in two re- 
spects only, and two, moreover, which can be satisfac- 
torily explained by their marriage regulations, do the 
Two-Mountain Iroquois difi'er from the Pacific system. 
It is true that these two points of difi'erence involve 
some others not shown in the table. Thus, while a 
woman's father's sister's daughter's son is her son, a 
man's father's sister's daughter's son is his nephew, 
because his father's sister's daughter is his sister, and 



THE MICMAC SYSTEM 181 

Ms sister's son, as already explained, is his nephew. It 
should also be added that the Two- Mountain Iroquois 
show an advance, as compared with the Hawaiian 
system, in the terms relating to relationships by 
marriage. 

The Micmac system, as shown in column 5, is in 
three points an advance on that of the Two- Mountain 
Iroquois. Not only does a man call his sister's son his 
nephew, but a woman applies the same term to her 
brother's son. Thus, men term their brother's sons 
^ sons,' and their sister's sons ' nephews ; ' while women, 
on the contrary, call their brother's sons ' nephews,' 
and their sister's sons ' sons ; ' obviously because there 
was a time when, though brothers and sisters could not 
marry, brothers might have their wives in common, 
while sisters, as we know, habitually married the same 
man. It is remarkable also that a father's brother and 
a mother's sister are also distinguished from the true 
father and mother. In this respect the Micmac system 
is superior to that prevailing in most other Redskin 
races. For the same reason, not only is a mother's 
brother termed an uncle, but the father's sister is no 
longer called a mother, being distinguished by a special 
term, and thus becomes an aunt. The social habits of 
the Eedskins, which have already been briefly alluded 
to, sufficiently explain why the father's sister is thus 
distinguished, while the father's brother and mother's 
sister are still called respectively father and mother. 
Moreover, as we found among the Two-Mountain Iro- 
quois that although the mother's brother is recognised 
as an uncle, his son is still called brother, thus pointing 
back to a time when the father's brother was still called 



182 BUBMESE AND JAPANESE 8Y8TEM8 



father ; so here we see that though the father's sister is 
called aunt, her son is still regarded as a brother ; 
indicating the existence of a time when, among the Mic- 
macs, as among the Two-Mountain Iroquois, a father's 
sister was termed a mother. It follows as a consequence 
that, as a father's brother's son, a mother's brother's 
son, a father's sister's son, and a mother's sister's son, 
are considered to be brothers, their children are termed 
sons by the males ; but as a woman calls her brother's 
son a nephew, so she applies the same term to the sons 
of the so-called brothers. 

If the system of relationship be subject to gradual 
growth, and approach step by step towards perfection, 
we should naturally expect that, from differences of 
habits and customs, the various advances would not 
among all races follow one another in precisely the same 
order. Of this the Micmacs and Wyandots afford us 
an illustration. While the latter have, on the whole, 
made most progress, the former are in advance on one 
point ; for though the Micmacs have distinguished a 
father's brother from a father, he is among the Wyandots 
still termed a father ; on the other hand, the Wyandots 
call a mother's brother's son a cousin, while among the 
Micmacs he is still termed a brother. 

Here we may conveniently consider two Asiatic 
nations — the Burmese and the Japanese — which, though 
on the whole considerably more advanced in civilisation 
than any of the foregoing races, yet appear to be singu- 
larly backward in their systems of family nomenclature. 
I will commence with the Burmese. A mother's brother 
is called either father (great or little) or uncle ; his son 
is regarded as a brother ; his grandson as a nephew ; 



THE WYANDOT 8Y8TEM 183 

his great-grandson as a grandson. A father's sister is 
an aunt ; but her son is a brother, her grandson is a 
son, and her great-grandson a grandson. A father's 
brother is still a father (great or little) ; his son is a 
brother; his grandson a nephew ; and his great-grand- 
son a grandson. A mother's sister is a mother (great 
or little) ; her son is a brother ; her grandson a nephew ; 
and her great-grandson a grandson. Grandfathers' 
brothers and sisters are grandfathers and grandmothers. 
Brothers' and sisters' sons and daughters are recognised 
as nephews and nieces, whether the speaker is a male or 
female ; but their children again are still classed as 
grandchildren. 

Among the Japanese a mother's brother is called a 
^ second little father ; ' a father's sister a ' little mother ' 
or ' aunt ; ' a father's brother a ' little father ' or ' uncle ; ' 
and a mother's sister a ' little mother ' or ' aunt.' The 
other relationships shown in the table are the same as 
among the Burmese. 

The Wyandots, descendants of the ancient Hurons, 
are illustrated in the eighth column. Their system is 
somewhat more advanced than that of the Micmacs. 
While, among the latter, a mother's brother's son, and 
a father's sister's son, are called brothers, among the 
Wyandots they are recognised as cousins. The children 
of these cousins, however, are still by males called sons, 
thus reminding us that there was a time when these 
cousms were still regarded as brothers. A second mark 
of progress is, that women regard their mother's brother's 
grandsons as nephews, and not as sons, though the 
great-grandsons of uncles and aunts are still, in all cases, 
termed grandsons. 



184 THE WYANDOT SYSTEM 

I crave particular attention to this system, which 
may be regarded as the typical system of the Redskins/ 
althousrh, as we have seen, some tribes have a ruder 
nomenclature, and we shall presently allude to others 
which are rather more advanced. A mother's brother 
is termed uncle ; his son is a cousin ; his grandson is 
termed nephew when a woman is speaking, son in the 
case of a male. In either case, his grandson is termed 
grandson. A father's sister is an aunt, and her son a 
cousin ; but her grandson and great-grandson are 
termed, respectively, son and grandson, thus reminding 
us that there was a time when a father's sister was re- 
garded as a mother. A father's brother is called father ; 
his son, brother ; his grandson, son ; and his great- 
grandson, grandson. 

A mother's sister is a mother, her son is a brother, 
her grandson is called nephew by a female, son by a 
male ; her great-grandson is, in either case, called 
grandson. A grandfather's brother and sister are called 
grandfather and grandmother respectively. 

A brother's son is called son by a male, and nephew 
by a female, while a sister's son is called nephew by a 
male, and son by a female, the reasons for which have 
been already explained. 

Lastly, brothers' son's sons and daughters, sisters' 
son's sons and daughters, are all called grandsons and 
granddaughters. Thus we see that in every case the 
third generation returns to the direct line. 

The two following columns represent the Tamil and 

^ The Peruvian system appears, been very similar, in some of its 

from the vocabularies given in most essential features, to that of 

Mr. Clements Markham's Quichua the Wyandots. 
Grammar and Dictionary, to have 



TEE TAMIL AND FIJIAN SYSTEMS 185 

rijian systems, with wliich also that of the Tonga Islands 
very closely agrees. I have already called attention to 
this, and given my reasons for being unable to adopt 
the explanation suggested by Mr. Morgan. 

It will be observed that the only differences shown 
in the table between the system of these races and that 
of the Wyandots, are, firstly, that the mother's brother's 
grandson is regarded among the Wyandots as a nephew 
by males, and as a son by females ; while in the Tamil 
and Fijian system the reverse is said to be the case, " 
-and he is termed son by males, and nephew by females. 
Secondly, that the father's sister's grandson is regarded 
-as a son among the ^^yandots, while in the Tamil and 
Fijian system he is, when an uncle is speaking, recognised 
as a nephew. The latter difference merely indicates that 
the Tamil and Fijian systems are slightly more advanced 
than the Wyandot. The other difference is more diffi- 
cult to understand. 

But though the Redskin, Tamil, and Fijian sys- 
tems, differing as they do from ours in many ways, 
which at first seem altogether arbitrary and unaccount- 
able, agree so remarkably with one another, we find, 
also, in some cases, remarkable differences among the 
Redskin races themselves. These differences affect 
principally the lines of the mother's brother and father's 
sister. This is natural. They are the first to be dis- 
tinguished from true parents, and new means have, 
therefore, to be adopted to distinguish the relationships 
thus recognised. In several cases other old terms were 
tried, with very comical results. These modes of over- 
coming the difficulty were so unsatisfactory, that, by 
the time a father's sister's son was recognised as a 



186 BEMAEKABLE TEEMS IN USE 

cousin, tlie necessity for the creation of new terms 
seems to have been generally felt. 

Table II. shows, as regards fourteen tribes, the re- 
sult of the attempt to distinguish these relationships. 
Taking, for instance, the line which gives the terms 
in use for a mother's brother's grandson, we find the 
following, viz. son, stepbrother, grandson, and grand- 
child, stepson, and uncle ; in the case of a father's 
sister's grandson (male speaking), we have grandchild, 
son, stepson, brother, and father ; when a female is 
speaking, grandchild, son, nephew, brother, and father. 
Thus, for this single relationship we find six terms in 
use, and a difference of three generations, viz. from 
grandfather to son. At first the use of such terms 
seems altogether arbitrary, but a further examination 
will show that this is by no means the case. 

Column 2 gives the system of the Kedknives, one 
of the most backward tribes on the American continent 
as regards their nomenclature of relationships. Here, 
though a mother's brother and a father's sister are, 
respectively, uncle and aunt, their children are regarded 
as brothers, their grandchildren as sons, and their 
great-grandchildren as grandsons. The Munsee system 
shows a slight advance. Here, though the women call 
their sister's sons their sons, the males, on the contrary, 
term them nephews, and, consequently, apply the same 
term to their mother's brother's daughter's son, and 
their father's sister's daughter's son ; because, as in 
the preceding case, mother's brother's daughters, and 
father's sisters daughters, are termed sisters. The 
Micmacs (column 3) show another step in advance. 
Here, not only does a man call his sister's son nephew, 



EXPLANATION OF THE TEBM8 18/ 

but, in addition, a woman applies the same term to 
her brother's son ; consequently, not only a mother's 
brother's daughter's son, if a male is speaking, but a 
mother's brother's son's son, if a female is speaking, and 
the corresponding relations on the side of the father's 
sister, are termed nephews. 

Among the Delawares a mother's brother's son, and 
father's sister's son, are distinguished from true brothers 
by a term corresponding to ' stepbrother.' They appear 
to have also felt the necessity of distinguishing a step- 
brother's son from a true son ; but, having no special 
term, they retain the same word, thus calling a step- 
brother's son a stepbrother. This principle, as we shall 
see, is followed by several other tribes, and has produced 
the most striking inconsistencies shown in the table. 
We find it again among the Crows, where a father's 
sister is called mother, her daughter again, mother ; but 
as her son cannot of course be a mother, he is called 
' father.' The same system is folio v^ed by the Pawnees, 
as shown in columns 7 and 8 ; and the Grand Pawnees 
carry it a generation lower, and call their father's 
sister's grandson on the male side ' father ; ' a father's 
sister's daughter's son is, however, called a brother. 
Among the Cherokees we find this principle most 
thoroughly carried out, and a father's sister's grandson 
is also called a father. This case is the more interesting, 
because the circumstance which produced the system 
is no longer in existence ; for, as will be seen, a father's 
sister is called an aunt. It is not at first obvious that 
a father's sister being called a mother would account for 
her son being called a father ; but, with the Crow and 
Pawnee systems before us, we see that the Cherokees 



188 SYSTEMS OF TEE OMAHAS, ONEIDAS, OTAWAS 

could not call their father's sister's sons ' fathers,' unless 
there had been a time when a father's sister was regarded 
as a mother. 

The Hare Indians supply us with a case in which, 
mother's brothers and father's sisters being distin- 
guished from fathers and mothers, their children are no 
longer termed brothers, but are distinguished as cousins ; 
while their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, on 
the contrary, are still termed sons and grandsons. 

So far as the relationships shown in the table are 
concerned, the system of the Omahas, and of the Sawks 
and Foxes, is identical. A mother's brother is an 
uncle, and, for the reason already pointed out in the 
case of the Delawares, his sons and son's sons, and even 
son's grandsons, are also termed grandsons. His 
daughter's sons, on the contrary, retain the old name 
of brother. A father's sister is an aunt, her children 
are nephews, and the descendants of these nephews are 
grandchildren. 

Among the Oneidas, a father's brother is an uncle, 
and his son is a cousin ; his son's sons, however, are 
still sons. His daughter's son is a son, when a female is 
speaking ; but, for the reason already explained in the 
case of the Munsees, males term them nephews. The 
relationships connected with a father's sister are dealt 
with in a similar manner, except that a father's sister is 
still called mother. 

The Otawa system resembles the Micmac, and is 
formed on the same plan, being, however, somewhat 
more advanced, inasmuch as the children of uncles and 
aunts are recognised as cousins, and a man calls his 
cousin's son, not his son, but his stepson. The Ojibwa 



THE KAFFIB 8Y8TFM 189 

system is the same, except that a woman also calls her 
mother's brother's daughter's son, and father's sister's 
daughter's son, her stepson, instead of her son. In 
some of the relationships by marriage the same causes 
have led to even more striking differences. Thus, a 
woman generally calls her father's sister's daughter's 
husband her brother-in-law ; but among the Missouri 
and Mississippi nations her son-in-law ; among the 
Minnitarees, the Crows, and some of the Chocta clans, 
her father ; among the Cherokees, her step-parent ; the 
Eepublican Pawnees, and some of the Choctas, her 
grandfather ; and among the Tukuthes, her grandson ! 

Having thus pointed out the curious results to 
which some of the lower races have been led in their 
attempts to distinguish relationships, and endeavoured 
to explain those shown in Table II., I will now return 
to the main argument. 

The Kaffir (Amazulu) system is given in column 
12, Table I. Here, for the first time, we find the 
father's brother regarded as an uncle, and the mother's 
sister as an aunt. In other respects, however, the 
system is not more advanced than the Tamil, Fijian, 
or Wyandot. The mother's brother is called uncle ; ^ 
his son, cousin ; his grandson, son ; and his great-grand- 
son, grandchild. A father's sister, quaintly enough, is 
called father, the Kaffir word for which, uhaba, closely 
resembles ours. His son, however, is called brother ; 
his grandson, accordingly, son ; his great-grandson^ 
grandchild. A father's brother, as already mentioned, 
is uncle ; but, as before, his son is called brother ; his 

^ It iS; howeyer, significant that he calls his sister's sons ^sons/ and not 
nephews. 



190 TED M0EEGAN8 

grandson, son ; and his great-grandson, grandson. So, 
also, a mother's sister is an aunt, but lier son is a 
brother ; her grandson, a son ; and her great-grandson, 
a grandson. As in all the preceding cases, grand- 
fathers' brothers and sisters are considered as, re- 
spectively, grandfathers and grandmothers. Brothers' 
sons and sisters' sons are called sons, and, lastly, their 
sons again are grandsons. ■ 

Excepting in the case of nephews, this system, there- 
fore, closely resembles the Tamil, Fijian, and Wyandot ; 
the other principal differences being a more correct 
nomenclature of uncles and aunts. 

Column 13, Table I., exhibits the nomenclature in 
use among the Mohegans, whose name signifies ' sea- 
side people,' from their geographical position on the 
Hudson and the Connecticut. They belong to the 
great Algonkin stock. Here, for the first time, a dis- 
tinction is introduced between a father and a father's 
brother. The latter, however, is not recognised as an 
uncle ; that is to say, a father's brother and a mother's 
brother are not regarded as equivalent relationships, 
but the former is termed stepfather. This distinguish- 
ing prefix is the characteristic feature ; and, as will be 
seen, we find the terms stepmother, stejDbrother, and 
stepchild (to the exclusion of cousin), as natural con- 
sequences of the stepfather ship. Still, the mother's 
sister remains a mother, and her son a brother ; and 
the derivation of this system from one similar to those 
already considered is, moreover, indicated by the fact 
that the members of the third generation are still 
regarded as grandchildren. 

The Crees and the Ojibwas, or Chippewas (of Lake 



I 



M0HEGAN8~GBUE8—GHIPPEWAS 191 

Michigan), who also belong to the great Algonkin 
stock, resemble the Mohegan in the use, though with 
some minor differences, of the prefix ' step-', a device 
which occurs also in a more complicated form among 
the Chinese. In some points, however, they are rather 
more advanced, and, in fact, these tribes possess the 
highest system of relationship yet recorded among the 
Redskins of North America. A mother's brother is an 
uncle, and his son is a cousin ; as regards his grandson, 
the tendency to the use of different terms, according as 
the speaker is a male or female, shows itself in the use 
by the former of the term stepson, where the latter say 
nephew as in some of the ruder tribes. In both cases, 
mothers' brothers' great-grandchildren are called grand- 
children. A father's sister is an aunt, and the nomen- 
clature with reference to her descendants is the same as 
in the case of the mother's brother. A father's brother 
is a stepbrother ; his son is still called a brother by 
males among the Crees, but is called stepson by the 
Ojibwas ; the other relationships in this line being the 
same as in the case of the mother's brother and father's 
sister. 

No Redskin regards his mother's sister as an aunt ; 
but the Crees and Ojibwas distinguish her from a true 
mother by the term stepmother, and her descendants 
are addressed by the same terms as those of the father's 
brother. The grandfather's brothers and sisters are 
called grandfathers and grandmothers. As before, 
brothers' sons, when a female is speaking, and sisters' 
sons, when a male is speaking, are called nephews ; 
while brothers' sons, when a male is speaking, and 
sisters' sons, when a female is speaking, are no longer 



192 SUMMARY OF BEBSKIN SYSTEMS 

regarded as true sons, but are distinguished as stepsons. 
The grandchildren of these nephews and stepsons are^ 
however, all termed grandchildren. 

If, now, we compare this system with that of the 
Two-Mountain Iroquois, we find that out of twenty- 
eight relationships given in the table only ten have 
remamed the same. Of these, two are indicative of 
progress made by the Two- Mountain Iroquois — namely, 
the term for mother's brother and sister's son ; the 
other eight are marks of imperfection still remaining in 
the Ojibwa nomenclature : points, moreover, not by any 
means characteristic of American races, but common, 
also, as we have seen, to the Hawaiian, Kingsmill, 
Burmese, Japanese, Tongan, Fijian, Kaffir, and 
Tamil systems ; as we shall also find, to the Hindi, 
Karen, and Esquimaux ; in fact, to almost all, if not all, 
barbarous peoples, and even to some of the more 
advanced races. 

Column 14, Table L, shows the system of nomen- 
clature as it exists in Hindi, and it may be added that 
the Bengali, Marathi, and Gujerathi are essentially the 
same, although the words differ. All these languages 
are said to be Sanskrit as regards their words ; abori- 
ginal, on the contrary, in their grammar. Hindi con- 
tains 90% of Sanskrit words, Grujerathi as much as 95%. 
With three or four exceptions, it appears that the terms 
for relationship may be all of Sanskrit origin. 

Here, for the first time, we find that a brother's son 
and a sister's son are termed nephews, whether the 
speaker is a male or a female. Yet nephews' children 
are still termed grandchildren. Again, for the first 
time, the mother's brother, father's brother, mother's 



HINDOO SYSTEMS^KABENS 198 

sister, and father's sister are regarded as equivalent, 
and the terms for their descendants are similar. The 
two former — i.e. mother's brother and father's brother, 
are termed ' uncles ; ' the two latter — i.e. mother's sister 
and father's sister, are called ' aunts.' Yet, as reo'ards 
the next generations, the system is less advanced than 
the Ojibwa, for uncles' sons and aunts' sons are termed 
brothers ; their grandsons, nephews ; and their great- 
grandsons, grandsons. It should, however, be observed 
that, in the first three languages, viz. the Hindi, Ben- 
gali, and Marathi, besides the simple term ' brother,' 
the terms * brother through paternal uncle,' ' brother 
through paternal aunt,' ' brother through maternal 
uncle,' and ' brother through maternal aunt,' are also in 
use, and are less cumbersome than our English literal 
translation would indicate. The system, therefore, is 
transitional on this point. Lastly, a grandfather's 
brother is called ' grandfather ; ' a grandfather's sister, 
' grandmother.' 

The Karens are a rude, but peaceful and teachable 
race, inhabiting parts of Tenasserim, Burmah, Siam, 
and extending into the southern parts of China. They 
have been encroached upon and subjected by more 
powerful races, and are now divided into different 
tribes, speaking different dialects, of which three are 
given in Mr. Morgan's tables. Though rude and 
savage in their mode of life, they are described as 
extremely moral in their social relations — praise which 
seems to be corroborated by their system of relation- 
ships, as shown in column 17, Table I. 

Column 18 shows the system of another rude 
people, belonging to a distinct family of the human 

o 



194 KABENS— ESQUIMAUX 

race, and inhabiting a distant and very different part 
of the world. Like the Karens, the Esquimaux are a 
rude people, but, like them, they are a quiet, peaceable, 
and moral race. No doubt on some points their ideas 
differ from ours ; their condition does not admit of much 
refinement — of any great advance in science or art. 
They cannot be said to have any religion worthy of the 
name, yet there is, perhaps, no more moral people on the 
face of the earth ; none among whom there is less crime ; 
and it is, perhaps, not going too far to say that there is, 
as far as I can judge, no race of men which has more 
fully availed itself of its opportunities. 

It is most remarkable to find that these two races of 
men, so distinct, so distant, so dissimilar in their modes 
of life, without a word in common, yet use systems 
of relationshijD which, in their essential features, are 
identical, although by no means in harmony with the 
existing social condition : in both, uncles and aunts are 
correctly recognised, and their children regarded as 
cousins ; their grandchildren, however, are termed 
nephews, and the children of these so-called nephews 
are classed, as in all the previous cases, as grand- 
children. Thus, out of the twenty-eight relationships 
indicated in the table, the Karens and Esquimaux agree 
with us in twelve, and differ in sixteen. As regards 
every one, however, of these sixteen they agree with 
one another, while in eight they follow the same system 
as every other race which we have been considering. 

These facts cannot be the result of chance ; there 
is one way, and, as it seems to me, one way only, of 
accounting for them, and that is by regarding them 
as the outcome of a progressive development, such as 



INDICATIONS OF PE0GBES8 195 

that which I have endeavoured to sketch. An examin- 
ation of the several cases will, I think, confirm this 
view. 

The Karen -Esquimaux system is inconsistent with 
itself in three respects, and precisely where it differs 
from ours. The children of cousins are termed nephews, 
which they are not ; the children of nejDhews are re- 
garded as grandchildren, and a grandfather's brothers 
and sisters are termed, respectively, grandfathers and 
grandmothers. 

The first fact— namely, that a mother's brother's 
grandsons, and a mother's sister's grandsons, a father's 
sister's grandsons, and a father's brother's grandsons, 
are all termed ' nephews ' — clearly points to the existence 
of a time when a mother's brother and a father's brother 
were regarded as fathers, a mother's sister and a father's 
sister as mothers, and their children, consequently, as 
brothers. The second — namely, that the great-grand- 
children of uncles and aunts are regarded as grand- 
children — similarly points to a time when nephews and 
nieces were termed, and regarded as, sons and daughters, 
and their children, consequently, as grandchildren. 
Lastly, why should grandfathers' brothers and grand- 
fathers' sisters be called grandfathers and grandmothers, 
unless there was a time when fathers' brothers and sisters 
were respectively called ' fathers' and 'mothers : ' unless 
the Karens and Esquimaux once had a system of 
relationship similar to that which still prevails among 
so many barbarous tribes, and which, to all appearance, 
has been gradually modified ? Hence, though the 
Karens and Esquimaux have now a far more correct 
system of nomenclature than that of many other races, 

o 2 



196 INCOMPLETENESS OF SYSTEMS 

we find, even in this, clear traces of a time when these 
peoples had not advanced in this respect beyond the 
lowest stage. 

As already mentioned, the European nations follow, 
almost without exception, a strictly descriptive system, 
founded on the marriage of single pairs. The principle 
is, however, departed from in a few rare cases, and 
in them we find an approach to the Karen-Esquimaux 
system. Thus, in Spanish, a brother's great-grandson 
is called ' grandson.' Again, in Bulgarian, a brother's 
grandson and sister's grandson are called ' Mai vnook 
mi,' literally ' httle grandson my.' A father's father's 
sister is termed a grandmother, and a father's father's 
brother a grandfather, as is also the case in Russian. 
The French and Sanskrit, alone, so far as I know, 
among the Aryan languages, have special words for 
elder and younger brother. Among Ar3^an races the 
Romans and the Germans alone developed a term for 
cousin,^ and we ourselves have, even now, no word for 
a cousin's son. The history of the term ' nephew ' is- 
also instructive. The word ' nepos,' says Morgan,^ 
^ among the Romans, as late as the fourth century, was 
' applied to a nephew as well as a grandson, although 
' both " avus " and " avunculus " had come into use. 
' Eutropius, in speaking of Octavianus, calls him the 
'nephew of Caesar, " Csesaris nepos." (Lib. vii. c. i.) 
' Suetonius speaks of him as " sororis nepos " (Caesar, 
' c. Ixxxiii.), and afterwards (Octavianus, c. vii.) de- 
' scribes Caesar as his great-uncle, '' major avunculus," 

^ So that of many nations it may be said, literally as well as figuratively, 
that ' les nations n'ont pas de cousins.' 
^ Log. cit. p. 35. 



EYIBENGB OF FBOGBESS 197 

' in which he contradicts himself. When " nepos " was 
^ finally restricted to grandson, and thus became a strict 
' correlative of " avus," the Latin language was with- 
^ out a term for nephew, whence the descriptive phrase, 
* " Fratris vel sororis filius." In English, "nephew" 
' was applied to grandson, as well as nephew, as late as 
^ 1611, the period of King James's translation of the 
' Bible. Niece is so used by Shakspeare in his will, in 
' which he describes his granddaughter, Susannah Hall, 
' as " my niece." ' 

So that even among the most advanced races we find 
some lingering confusion about nephews, nieces, and 
grandchildren. 

Thus, then, we have traced these systems of relation- 
ships from the simple and rude nomenclature of the 
Sandwich Islanders up to the far purer and more correct 
terminology of the Karens and Esquimaux. I have 
endeavoured to show that the systems indicated are 
explicable only on the theory of a gradual improvement 
and elevation, and are incompatible with degradation ; 
that as the valves indicate the course of the blood in 
our veins, so do the terms applied to relationships point 
out the course of past history. In the first place, the 
moral condition of the lower races, wherever we can 
ascertain it, is actually higher than that indicated by 
the phraseology in use ; and, secondly, the systems 
themselves are, in almost all cases, inexplicable, except 
on the hypothesis that they were themselves preceded 
by still ruder ones. 

Take, for instance, the case of the Two- Mountain 
Iroquois ; they call a mother's brother an uncle, but his 
son they regard as a brother. This is no accident, for 



198 EXISTING SYSTEMS INCOMPATIBLE 

the idea is carried out in the other relationships, and 
occurs also in other races. On the theory of progress 
it is easily accounted for : if a father's brother was pre- 
viously called a father, his son would, of course, be a 
brother ; and when the father's brother came to be dis- 
tinguished as an uncle some time would, no doubt, 
often elapse before the other changes, consequent on 
this step, would be effected. But how could such a 
system be accounted for on the opposite theory ? How 
could a father's brother's son come to be regarded as a 
brother, if a father's brother had always been termed 
an uncle ? The sequence of terms for the relationships 
connected with a father's sister, on the two hypotheses 
of progress on the one hand, and degradation on the 
other, may be illustrated as in the Table III. (p. 204). 

In the first, or lowest stage, the sequence is mother, 
brother, son, grandson, as in the Sandwich and Two- 
Mountain Iroquois system. In the next stage, the 
mother's sister being recognised as an aunt, and the 
other relationships remaining the same, we have the 
sequence, aunt, brother, son, grandson, as among the 
Micmacs. When a brother's son becomes a nephew 
we have aunt, brother, nephew, grandson, as in the 
Burmese, Japanese, and Hindi systems. In the next 
stage, an aunt's son being distinguished as a cousin, 
we have aunt, cousin, nephew, grandson, as among the 
Tamils and Fijians. The last two stages would be 
aunt, cousin, aunt's grandson, grandson ; and, lastly, 
aunt, cousin, aunt's grandson, aunt's great-grandson. 
Thus, out of these six stages, five at least actually 
exist. 

On the other hand, on the theory of retrogression, 



WITH TEE THEORY OF DEGEADATION 199 

we should commence with the highest system : namely, 
aunt, cousin, aunt's grandson, and aunt's great-grand- 
son. The second stage would be, mother, cousin, aunt's 
grandson, aunt's great-grandson. The third, mother, 
brother, aunt's grandson, aunt's great-grandson. The 
fourth, mother, brother, nephew, aunt's great-grand- 
son. The fifth, mother, brother, son, aunt's great- 
grandson. And the last, mother, brother, son, grand- 
son. Thus, it will be observed that, except, of course, 
the first and last, they have not a stage in common ; 
and, though there may be some doubt whether the 
sequence suggested on the second hypothesis is the one 
which would be followed, it cannot be maintained that 
we could ever have the systems which would occur in 
the case of progress as shown in Table IIL, and the 
first four of which are actually in existence. 

Whenever, then, the son or daughter of an uncle, 
or aunt, is termed a brother, as in the case of seven of 
the races referred to in the table, we may be sure that 
there was once a time when that uncle, or aunt, was 
termed a father or mother ; whenever a cousin's son is 
termed a son, as again in seven races, we must infer, 
not only that those cousins were once regarded as 
brothers, but that brothers' sons were once termed 
sons. Ao;ain, when great-uncles and aunts are termed 
grandfathers and grandmothers — when great-nephews 
and nieces are termed grandchildren, as in the case of 
all the races we have been considering — we have, I 
submit, good reason to infer that those races must once 
have had a system of nomenclature as rude as that of 
the Hawaiians or Kingsmill Islanders. 

But it may be asked : admitting that the seventeen 



200 EVIDENCE OF PB0GBE8S 

races, illustrated in Table I., are really advancing, are 
there not cases of the contrary ? The answer is clear : 
out of the 139 races whose systems of relationship are 
more or less completely given by Mr. Morgan, there is 
not one in which evidence of degradation is thus indi- 
cated. To show this clearly and concisely, I have pre- 
pared the following table (p. 201). It will be seen 
that, taking merely the relation of uncles and aunts with 
reference to their children, there are 207 cases indicating 
progress. On the other hand, there are four cases, the 
Cayuda, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawks, among 
whom, while a father's sister is called a mother, her son 
is called a cousin. These cases, however, are neutra- 
lised by the fact that the sons of these cousins are called 
sons. We have, therefore, a very large body of evidence 
indicating progress, and collected among very different 
races of men, while there appear to be none which 
favour the opposite hypothesis. 

In the preceding chapter, I have endeavoured to show 
that relationship is, at first, regarded as a matter, not of 
blood, but of tribal organisation ; that it is, in the second 
stage, traced through the mother ; in the third, through 
the father ; and that only in the fourth stage is the idea 
of family constituted as amongst ourselves. To obtain 
clear and correct ideas on this subject, it is necessary 
to know the laws and customs of various races. The 
nomenclature alone would, in many cases, lead us into 
error, and, in fact, has often done so. When checked 
by a knowledge of the tribal rules and customs, it is, 
however, most interesting and instructive. From this 
point of view especially, Mr. Morgan's work is of great 
value. It has been seen, however, that I differ greatly 



NO EVIBBNGE OF BEGUADATION 



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202 CONCLUSION 

from him as to the conclusions to be drawn from the 
facts which he has so diligently collected. 

Of course, I do not deny that these facts may, in 
some cases, indicate ethnological affinities ; but the}^ have 
not, I think, so great an importance in solving ques- 
tions of ethnological relationships as he supposes. I do 
not, however, in any way, undervalue their importance ; 
they afford a striking evidence in favour of the doctrine of 
development, and are thus a very interesting and impor- 
tant contribution to the great problem of human history. 

Mainly from the materials which he has so laboriously 
collected, and for which ethnologists owe him an im- 
mense debt of gratitude, I have endeavoured to show : 

Firstly, that the terms for, what we call, relation- 
ships, are, among the lower races of men, mere ex- 
pressions for the results of marriage customs, and do 
not comprise the idea of relationship as we understand 
it ; that, in fact, the connection of individuals inte?' se, 
their duties to one another, their rights, and the descent 
of their property, are all regulated more by the rela- 
tion to the tribe than by that to the family ; that, when 
the two conflict, the latter must give way. 

Secondly, that the nomenclature of relationships is, 
in all the cases yet collected, explainable in a clear and 
simple manner on the hypothesis of progress. 

Thirdly, that while two races in the same state of 
social condition, but of which the one has risen from 
the lowest known system, the other sunk from the 
highest, would, necessarily, have a totally different 
system of nomenclature for relationships, we have not 
a single instance of such a system as would result from 
the latter hypothesis. 



CONCLUSION 203 

Fourthly, that some of those races which approxi- 
mate most nearly to our European system differ from 
it upon points only explainable on the hypothesis that 
they were once in a much lower social condition than 
they are at present. 



204 



SYSTEMS OF RELATIONSHIP 



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205 



CHAPTER YI. 

RELIGION. 

THE religion of savages, though of peculiar interest, 
is in many respects perhaps the most difficult 
part of my whole subject. I shall endeavour to avoid, 
as far as possible, anything which might justly give 
pain to any of my readers. Many ideas, however, 
which have been, or are, prevalent on religious matters, 
are so utterly opposed to our own that it is impossible 
to discuss the subject without mentioning some things 
which are very repugnant to our feelings. Yet, while 
savages show us a melancholy spectacle of gross super- 
stitions and ferocious forms of worship, the religious 
mind cannot but feel a peculiar satisfaction in tracing 
up the gradual evolution of more correct ideas and of 
nobler creeds. 

As a general rule savages do not set themselves to 
think out such questions, but adopt the ideas which 
suggest themselves most naturally ; so that, as I shall 
attempt to show, races in a similar state of mental 
development, however distinct their origin may be, and 
however distant the regions they inhabit, have very 
similar religious conceptions. Most of those who have 
endeavoured to account for the various superstitions of 
savage races have done so by crediting them with a 
much more elaborate system of ideas than they in 



206 BBLIQIOUS GHABAGTJEBISTICS OF 

reality possess. Thus Lafitau supposes that fire was 
worshipped because it so well represents ' cette supreme 
^ intelligence degagee de la nature, dont la puissance 
' est toujours active.'^ Again, with reference to idols, 
he observes ^ that ' la dependance que nous avons de 
' I'imagination et des sens ne nous permettant pas de 
^ voir Dieu autrement qu'en enigme, comme parle Saint 
^ Paul, a cause une espece de necessite de no as le 
^ montrer sous des images sensibles, lesquelles fussent 
^ autant de symboles, qui nous elevassent jusqu'a lui, 
^ comme le portrait nous remet dans I'idee de celui 
' dont il est la peinture.' Plutarch, again, supposed 
that the crocodile was worshipped by Egypt because, 
having no tongue, it was a type of the Deity who made 
laws for nature by his mere will ! Explanations, how- 
ever, such as these are radically wrong. 

I have felt doubtful whether this chapter should 
not be entitled ' the superstitions ' rather than ' the re- 
' ligion ' of savages ; but have preferred the latter partly 
iDCcause many of the superstitious ideas pass gradually 
into nobler conceptions, and partly from a reluctance to 
condemn any honest belief, however absurd and im- 
perfect it may be. It must, however, be admitted that 
religion, as understood by the lower savage races, differs 
essentially from ours ; nay, it is not only different, but 
even opposite. Thus, it is an affair of this world, not 
of the next. Their deities are evil, not good ; they may 
be forced into compliance with the wishes of man ; 
they generally require bloody, and often rejoice in 
human, sacrifices ; they are mortal, not immortal ; a 
part, not the authors, of nature ; they are to be ap- 

^ Moeurs des Sauvages Americains, vol. i. p. 152. ^ j^^^ ^^^ ^ jgl. 



THE LOWER EAGES OF MAN 207 

proaclied by dances rather than by prayers ; and often 
approve wliat we call vice, rather than what we esteem 
as virtue. 

In fact, the so-called religion of the lower races 
bears somewhat the same relation to religion in its 
higher forms that astrology does to astronomy, or 
alchemy to chemistry. Astronomy is derived from 
astrology, yet their spirit is in entire opposition ; and 
we shall find the same difference between the religions 
of backward and of advanced races. We regard the 
Deity as good ; they look upon him as evil ; we submit 
ourselves to him ; they endeavour to obtain the control 
of him ; we feel the necessity of accounting for the 
blessings by which we are surrounded ; they think the 
blessings come of themselves, and attribute all evil to 
the interference of malignant beings. 

These characteristics are not exceptional and rare. 
On the contrary, I shall attempt to show that, though 
the religions of the lower races have received different 
names, they agree in their general characteristics, and 
are but phases of one sequence, having the same origin, 
and passing through similar, if not identical, stages. 
This will explain the great similarities which occur in 
the most distinct and distant races, which have puzzled 
many ethnologists, and in some cases led them to, 
utterly imtenable theories. Thus, even Robertson, 
though in many respects he held very correct views as 
to the religious condition of savages, remarks that Sun- 
worship prevailed among the Natchez and the Persians, 
and observes : ^ — ' This surprising coincidence in senti- 
' ment between two nations in such different states of 

^ History of America, book iv. p. 127. 



208 DIFFICULTIES OF THE SUBJECT 

^ improvement is one of the many singular and unac- 
' countable circumstances which occur in the history of 
' human affairs.' 

Although, however, we find the most remarkable 
coincidences between the rehgions of distinct races, one 
of the peculiar difficulties in the study of religion arises 
from the fact that, while each nation has generally but 
one language, we may almost say that in religious 
matters, quot homines tot sententice ; no two men havino^ 
exactly the same views, however much they may wish 
to agree. 

Many travellers have pointed out this difficulty. 
Thus, Captain Cook, speaking of the South Sea 
islanders,^ says : — ' Of the religion of these people we 
' were not able to acquire any clear and consistent 
' knowledge ; we found it like the religion of most other 
'countries — involved in mystery and perplexed with 
' apparent inconsistencies.' Many also of those to whom 
we are indebted for information on the subject, fully 
expecting to find among savages ideas hke our own, 
obscured only by errors and superstition, have put 
leading questions, and thus got misleading answers. 
We constantly hear, for instance, of a Devil ; but, in 
fact, no spiritual being in the mythology of any savage 
races possesses the characteristics of Satan. Again, it 
is often very difficult to determine in what sense an 
object is worshipped. A mountain, or a river, for in- 
stance, may be held sacred either as an actual Deity or 
merely as his abode ; and in the same way a statue may 
be actually worshipped as a god, or merely reverenced 
as representing the Divinity. 

^ Hawkes worth's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 237. 



GLASSIFIGATION OF THE LOWER BELIGIONS 209 

To a great extent, moreover, these difficulties arise 
from the fact that when man, either by natural progress 
or the influence of a more advanced race, rises to the 
conception of a higher religion, he still retains his old 
beliefs, which long linger on, side by side with, and yet 
in utter opposition to, the higher creed. The new and 
more powerful Spirit is an addition to the old Pantheon, 
and diminishes the importance of the older deities ; 
gradually the worship of the latter sinks in the social 
scale, and becomes confined to the ignorant and the 
young. Thus, a belief in witchcraft still flourishes 
among our agricultural labourers and the lowest classes 
in our great cities ; and the deities of our ancestors sur- 
vive in the nursery tales of our children. We must 
therefore expect to find in each race traces — nay, more 
than traces — of lower religions. Even if this were not 
the case, we should still be met by the difficulty that 
there are few really sharp lines in religious systems. 
It might be supposed that a belief in the immortality 
of the soul, or m the efficacy of sacrifices, would give 
us good lines of division ; but it is not so : these, and 
many other ideas, rise gradually, and even often appear 
at first in a form very diff'erent from that which they 
ultimately assume. 

Hitherto it has been usual to classify religions 
according to the nature of the object worshipped : 
Fetichism, for instance, being the worship of inanimate 
objects, Sabseism that of the heavenly bodies. The 
true test, however, seems to me to be the estimate in 
which the Deity is held. The first great stages in 
religious thought may, I think, be regarded as — 

Atheism ; understanding by this term not a denial of 

p 



210 BELIGIONS ACCOBDING TO SANGEONIATHO 

the existence of a Deity, but an absence of any definite 
ideas on the subject, 

Fetichism ; the stage in which man supposes he can 
force the deities to comply with his desires. 

Nature-worship or Totemism ^ in which natural 
objects, trees, lakes, stones, animals, &c., are wor- 
shipped. 

Shamanism ; in which the superior deities are far 
more powerful than man, and of a different nature. 
Their place of abode also is far away, and accessible 
only to Shamans. 

Idolatry^ or Anthropomorphism ; in which the gods 
take still more completely the nature of men, being, 
however, more powerful. They are still amenable to 
persuasion ; they are a part of nature, and not creators. 
They are represented by images or idols. 

In the next stage the Deity is regarded as the 
author, not merely a part of nature. He becomes for 
the first time a really supernatural being. 

The last stage to which I will refer is that in which 
morality is associated with religion. 

Since the above was written, my attention has been 

.called by De Brosse's ' Culte des Dieux fetiches' to a 

passage in Sanchoniatho, quoted by Eusebius. From 

his description of the first thirteen generations of 

men I extract the following passages : — 

Generation 1. — The ' first men consecrated the plants 
' shooting out of the earth, and judged them gods, 
' and worshipped them, upon whom they themselves 
' lived.' 

Gen. 2. — The second generation of men ' were called 
' Genus and Genea, and dwelt in Phoenicia ; but when 



RELIGIONS ACCOBDING TO 8AN0H0NIATH0 211 

' great droughts came, they stretched their hands up 
' to heaven towards the Sun, for him they thought the 
' only Lord of Heaven.' 

Ge?2. 3. — Afterwards other mortal issue was beo^otten, 
whose names were Phos, Pur, and Phlox (i.e. Light, 
Fire, and Flame). These found out the w^ay of gene- 
rating fire by the rubbing of pieces of wood against each 
other, and taught men the use thereof. 

Gen. 4. — The fourth generation consists of giants. 
Gen. 5. — With reference to the fifth he mentions 
the existence of communal marriage, and that Usous 
^ consecrated two pillars to Fire and Wind, and bowed 
' down to them, and poured out to them the blood of 
' such wild beasts as had been caught in hunting.' 

Gen. 6. — Hunting^ and fishino^ are invented ; which 
seems rather inconsistent with the preceding statement. 
Gen. 7. — Chrysor, whom he afiirms to be Yulcan, 
discovered iron and the art of forging. ' Wherefore he 
^ also was worshipped after his death for a god, and they 
' called him Diamichius (or Zeus Michius).' 
Gen. 8. — Pottery was discovered. 
Ge7i. 9. — Now comes Agrus, ' who had a much- 
' worshipped statue, and a temple carried about by one 
' or more yoke of oxen in Phoenicia.' 

Gen. 10. — Tillages were formed, and men kept 
flocks. 

Gen. 11. — Salt was discovered. 
Gen. 12. — Taautus or Hermes discovered letters. 
The Cabiri belong to this generation. 

Thus, then, we find mentioned in order the worship 
of plants, heavenly bodies, pillars, and men ; later 
still comes Idolatry coupled with Temples. It will be 

p 2 



212 RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF TEE LOWEST BAGES 

observed that Sanchoniatlio makes no special mention of 
Shamanism, and that he regards the worship of plants 
as aboriginal. 

The opinion that religion is general and universal 
has been entertained by many high authorities. Yet 
it is opposed to the evidence of numerous trustworthy 
observers. Sailors, traders, and philosophers, Roman 
Catholic priests and Protestant missionaries, in ancient 
and in modern times, in every part of the globe, have 
concurred in stating that there are races of men alto- 
gether devoid of religion. The case is the stronger be- 
cause in several instances the fact has greatly surprised 
him who records it, and has been entirely in opposition 
to all his preconceived views. On the other hand, it 
must be confessed that in some cases travellers denied 
the existence of religion merely because the tenets were 
unlike ours. The question as to the general existence 
of religion among men is, indeed, to a great extent a 
matter of definition. If the mere sensation of fear, and 
the recognition that there are probably other beings 
more powerful than oneself, are sufficient alone to con- 
stitute a religion, then we must, I think, admit that 
religion is general to the human race. But when a 
child dreads the darkness, and shrinks from a lightless 
room, we never regard that as an evidence of religion. 
Moreover, if this definition be adopted, we can no 
longer regard religion as peculiar to man. We must 
admit that the feeling of a dog or a horse towards 
its master is of the same character ; and the baying 
of a dog to the moon is as much an act of worship 
as some ceremonies which have been so described by 
travellers. 



ABSENCE OF RELIGION 213 

Even among the higher races we find that the words 
now denoting spiritual things betray in almost all, if 
not all, cases an earlier physical meaning. 

Bearing in mind this qualification I have quoted in 
'Prehistoric Times'^ the foil owning writers who have 
testified to the existence of tribes without religion. For 
some of the Esquimaux tribes. Captain Koss f for some 
of the Canadians, Hearne ; for the Californians, Baegert, 
who lived among them seventeen years, and La Perouse; 
for many of the Brazilian tribes, Spix and Martius, Bates 
and Wallace ; for Paraguay, Dobritzhofier ; for some 
of the Polynesians, Williams's Missionary Enterprises, 
the Yoyage of the Novara, and DiefFenbach ; for Damood 
Island (North of Australia), Jukes (Voyage of the 
'Fly') ; for the Pellew Islands, Wilson; for the Aru 
Islands, Wallace; for the Andamaners, Mouatt, and 
more recently Portman, who spent much time with 
them and studied them closely ; for certain tribes of 
Hindostan, Hooker and Shortt ; for some of the Eastern 
African nations. Burton and Grant ; for the Bachapin 
Kafiirs, Burchell ; and for the Hottentots, Le Yaillant. 
I will here only give a. few additional instances. 

The natives of Queensland, says Mr. Lang, 'have no 
' idea of a supreme divinity, the creator and governor 
' of the world, the witness of their actions, and their 
'future judge. They have no object of worship, even 
' of a subordinate and inferior rank. They have no 
' idols, no temples, no sacrifices. In short, they have 
' nothing whatever of the character of religion, or of 
' religious observance, to distinguish them from the 



^ Prehistoric Times, 6th edition. 

^ See also Franklin's Journey to the Polar Sea, vol. ii. p. 265. 



214 ABSENCE OF RELIGION 

'beasts that perish. They live "without God in the 
' " world." ' ^ He quotes, also, in support of this, the 
opinion of Mr. Schmidt, who lived as a missionary 
among the natives of Moreton Bay for seven years, and 
was well acquainted, with their language. 

Mr. Ridley, indeed, in an interesting ' Report on 
'Australian Languages and Traditions,'^ states that 
they have a traditional belief in one supreme Creator, 
called Baiamai, but he admits that most of the witnesses 
who were examined before the select Committee, ap- 
pointed by the Legislative Council of Victoria in 1858 
to report on the Aborighies, ^ gave it as their opinion 
'that the natives had no religious ideas.' It appears 
moreover from a subsequent remark,^ that Baiamai only 
possessed ' traces ' of the ' three attributes of the Grod of 
' the Bible — viz. Eternity, Omnipotence, and Goodness.' 

' It is evident,' says M. Bik,^ 'that the Arafuras of 
' Yorkay (one of the Southern Arus) possess no religion 
'whatever. ... Of the immortality of the soul they 
' have not the least conception. To all my enquiries on 
'this subject they answered, "No Arafura has ever 
' " returned to us after death, therefore we know 
' "nothing of a future state, and this is the first time 
'"we have heard of it." Their idea was Mati, Mati 
'sudah (When you are dead there is an end of you). 
' Neither have they any notion of the creation of the 
' world. To convince myself more fully respecting 
'their want of knowledge of a Supreme Being, I 
' demanded of them on whoui they called for help in 

^ Lang's Queensland, p. 374. ^ Loc. cit. p. 278. 

^ Jour, of the Anthrop. Institute, ^ Quoted in Kolff's Voyages of 

1872, p. 257. the Dourga, p. 158. 



ABSENCE OF RELIGION 215 

' their need, when their vessels were overtaken by 
'violent tempests. The eldest among them, after 
'having consulted the others, answered that they 
'knew not on wdiom they could call for assistance, 
' but begged me, if I knew, to be so good as to inform 
'them.' 

' The wilder Bedouins,' ^ says Burton, ' will inquire 
' w^here Allah is to be found : when asked the object of 
' the question, they reply, " If the Eesa could but catch 
' " him they would spear him upon the spot ; who but 
' " he lays waste their homes and kills their cattle and 
' " T^ives ? " ' He also considers that atheism is ' the 
' natural condition of the savage and uninstructed mind, 
' the night of spiritual existence, which disappears 
' before the dawn of a belief in things unseen. A 
' Creator is to creation w^hat the cause of any event 
' in life is to its effect ; those familiar to the sequence 
' will hardly credit its absence from the minds of 
'others.' 2 

Among the Koossa Kaffirs, Lichtenstein '^ affirms 
that ' there is no appearance of any religious worship 
' whatever.' 

' It might be the proper time now,' says Father 
Baegert, ' to speak of the form of government and the 
' religion of the Californians previous to their conver- 
' sion to Christianity ; but neither the one nor the 
' other existed among them. They had no magistrates, 
' no |!iolice, and no laws ; idols, temples, religious 
' worship or ceremonies vv^ere unknown to them, and 
' they neither believed in the true and only God, nor 

^ First Footsteps iu East Africa, ^ Abeokuta, vol. i. p. 179. 

p. 62. ^ Licbtenstein, vol. i. p. 253. 



216 ABSENCE OF BELIGION 

' adored false deities. ... I made diligent enquiries, 
' among those with whom I lived, to ascertain whether 
' they had any conception of God, a future life, and 
' their own souls, but I never could discover the slightest 
'trace of such a knowledge. Their language has no 
' words for ''' God " and '' soul." ' ^ Indeed, the mis- 
sionaries found no word which they could use for 
' God ' in any of the Oregon languages.'^ 

Although, as Captain John Smith ^ quaintly puts it, 
there was 4n Virginia no place discovered to be so 
' savage in which they had not a religion, Deere, and 
'bows and arrows,' still the ruder tribes in the far 
North, according to the testimony of Hearne, who 
knew them intimately, had no religion. 

Several tribes, says Robertson,^ ' have been dis- 
' covered in America, which have no idea whatever of a 
' Supreme Being, and no rites of religious worship. . . . 
* Some rude tribes have not in their language any name 
*for the Deity, nor have the most accurate observers 
' been able to discover any practice or institution which 
' seemed to imply that they recognised his authority, 
' or were solicitous to obtain his favour.' 

In the face of such a crowd of witnesses it may at 
first sight seem extraordinary that there can still be 
any difference of opinion on the subject. This, how- 
ever, arises partly from the fact that the term ' Re- 
' ligion ' has not always been used in the same sense, 
and partly from a belief that, as has no doubt happened 
in several cases, travellers may, from ignorance of the 

^ Baegert. Smithsonian Trans., ^ Voyages in Virginia, p. 138. 

1863-4, p. 390. 4 History of America, took iv. 

- Hale's Ethnography of the p. 122. See also Pritchard's Nat. 

U. S. Expl. Exped., p. 200. History of Man, vol. ii. p. 608. 



BUDIMENTABY RELIGIONS 217 

language, or from shortness of residence, have over- 
looked a religion which really existed. 

For instance, the first describers of Tahiti asserted 
that the natives had no religion, which subsequently 
proved to be a complete mistake ; and several other 
similar cases might be quoted. As regards the lowest 
races of men, however, it seems to me, even a priori^ 
very difficult to suppose that a people so backward as 
to be unable to count their own fingers should be suffi- 
ciently advanced in their intellectual conceptions as to 
have any system., of belief worthy of the name of a 
religion. 

The Atheism or absence of Belief in Gods, among the 
lower races, is of course a very different thing from the 
denial of their existence among higher races, as for 
instance among the Jains of India, who ' taught ' ^ that 
the gods had no real existence, and that even if they did 
exist they had no power or authority to override the 
inexorable destiny which governed the universe. 

We shall, however, obtain a clearer view of the 
question if we consider the superstitions of those races 
which have a rudimentary religion, and endeavour to 
trace these ideas up into a more developed condition. 

Here, agam, we shall joerhaps be met by the doubt 
whether travellers have correctly understood the ac- 
counts given to them. In many cases, however, when 
the narrator had lived for months, or years, among 
those whom he was describing, we need certainly feel 
no suspicion, and in others we shall obtain a satisfactory 
result by comparing together the statements of different 
observers and using them as a check one upon the other. 

^ Wheeler, Hist, of India, vol. iv. p. 412. 



218 BELIGIOUS IDEAS AS SUGGESTED BY SLEEP 

The religious theories of savages are certainly not 
the result of deep thought, nor must they be regarded 
as constituting any elaborate or continuous theory. A 
Zulu candidly said to Mr. Callaway : ^ ' Our knowledge 
' does not urge us to search out the roots of it ; we do 
' not try to see them ; if any one thmks ever so little 
' he soon gives it up, and passes on to what he sees 
' with his eyes ; and he does not understand the real 
' state of even what he sees.' Dulaure ^ truly observes, 
that the savage ' aime mieux soumettre sa raison, 
' souvent revoltee, a ce que ses institu^tions ont de plus 
' absurde, que de se livrer a Texamen, parce que ce 
' travail est toujours penible pour celui qui ne s'y est 
' point exerce.' With this statement I entirely concur, 
and I believe that through all the various religious 
systems of the lower races may be traced a natural and 
unconscious process of develojDment. 

The ideas of religion among the lower races of man 
are intimately associated with, if indeed they have not 
originated from, the condition of man during sleep, and 
especially from dreams. Sleej) and death have always 
been regarded as nearly related to one another. Thus, 
in classical mythology, Somnus, the god of sleep, and 
Mors, the god of death, were both fabled to have been 
the children of Nox, the goddess of night. So, also, 
the savage would naturally look on death as a kind of 
sleep, and would expect — hoping on even against hope 
— to see his friend return to himself from the one as he 
had so often done from the other. 

Hence, probably, one reason for the great import- 

^ The Eeligioiis System of the Amazulu, p. 22. 
p. 2: 



IIELIGIOUS IDEAS AS SUGGESTED BY DBEAMS 219 

ance ascribed to the treatment of the body after death. 
But what happens to the spirit dnring sleep ? The 
body lies lifeless, and the savage not unnaturally con- 
cludes that the spirit has left it. In this he is con- 
firmed by the phenomena of dreams, which conse- 
quently to the savage have a reality and an importance 
which we can scarcely appreciate. During sleep the 
spirit seems to desert the body ; and as in dreams we 
visit other localities and even other worlds, living, as 
it Avere, a separate and different life, the two phenomena 
are not unnaturally regarded as the complements of 
one another. Hence the savage considers the events 
in his dreams to be as real as those of his waking 
hours, and hence he comes to feel that he has a spirit 
which can quit the body. ' Dreams,' says Burton, ' ac- 
' cording to the Yorubans (West Africa) and to many 
' of our fetichists, are not an irregular action and par- 
' tial activity of the brain, but so many revelations 
' brought by the manes of the departed.' ^ So strong 
was the North American faith in dreaa-s that on one 
occasion, when an Indian dreamt he was taken caj)tive, 
he induced his friends to make a mock attack on him, 
to bind him and treat him as a captive, actually sub- 
mitting to a considerable amount of torture, in the 
hope thus to fulfil his dream.^ The Greenlanders,^ also, 
believe In the reality of dreams, and think that at night 
they go hunting, visiting, courting, and so on. It is of 
course obvious that the body takes no part in these 
nocturnal adventures, and hence it is natural to con- 
clude that they have a spirit which can quit the body. 

^ Abeokuta, vol. i. p. 204. ~ Lafitau. loc. cit. vol. i. p. 366. 

^ Craiitz, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 200. 



220 NIGHTMARES 

In Madagascar ^ ' the people throughout the whole 
' island pay a religious regard to dreams, and imagine 
' that their good demons (for I cannot tell what other 
' name to give their inferior deities, which, as they say, 
^ attend on their owleys) tell them in their dreams 
' what ought to be done, or warn them of what ought 
' to be avoided.' Mr. E. F. Von Thurm mentions a 
case in which an Indian of Guiana punished his slave 
because he dreamt that the man had been impertinent 
to him.^ 

Lastly, when they dream of their departed friends 
or relatives, savages firmly believe themselves to be 
visited by their spirits, and hence believe, not indeed 
in the immortality of the soul, but in its survival 
of the body. Thus the Yeddahs of Ceylon believe in 
spirits, because their deceased relatives visit them in 
dreams ; ^ the Karens also believe that the spirit can 
leave the body during sleep ; ^ and the Manganjas 
(South Africa) expressly ground their belief in a 
future life on the same fact. ' Persons who are pursued 
' in their sleep by the image of a deceased relation, are 
' often known to sacrifice a victim on the tomb of the 
' defunct, in order, as they say, to calm his dis- 
' quietude.' ^ Again : ^ ' If during sleep you dream of 
' returning to your people from whom you separated 
' a long time ago ; and see that so-and-so and so-and- 
' so are not happy ; and when you wake your body is 

^ The Adventures of Robert ^ M'Mahon. Karens of the G. 

Drury, p. 171. See also pp. 176, Chers., pp. 91, 127. 
272. 5 xhe Basutos, Rev. E. Casilis, 

~ Journ. Anthr. Inst., May 1882, p. 245. 
p. 364. '' Unkulunkulu; or, the Tradition 

^ Bailey, in Trans. Eth. Soc, of Creation as existing among the 

N. S., vol. ii. p. 301. Amazulu, p. 228. 



NIGHTMABES 221 

^ unstrung ; you know that the Itongo has taken you 
* to your people, that you might see the trouble in 
' which they are ; and that if you go to them you will 
' find out the cause of their unhappiness.' Indeed, the 
whole chapter on dreams in Dean Callaway's treatise 
on the religion of the Kaffirs is most interesting and 
instructive. 

Speaking of the Peruvians, Garcilasso de la Yega 
says,^ ' for ordinary omens they made use of dreams.' 
The Tongans thought that the souls of chiefs— for those 
of the common people were considered to die with their 
bodies — ' had the power of returning to Tonga to inspire 
' priests, relations, or others, or to appear in dreams.' ^ 
The Fijians ^ also believe ' that the spirit of a man 
' who still lives will leave the body to trouble other 
' people when asleep. When anyone faints or dies, their 
' spirit, it is said, may sometimes be brought back by 
^ calling after it.' Herodotus, speaking of the Nasa- 
mones, says that when they wish to divine, they go ' to 
' the tombs of their ancestors, and after having prayed, 
' they lie down to sleep, and whatever dream they have, 
' this they avail themselves of.' ^ 

Again, savages are rarely ill ; their sufferings gene- 
rally arise from wounds ; their deaths are generally 
violent. As an external injury received in war causes 
pain, so when they suffer internally they attribute it 
to some internal enemy. Hence, when the Australian, 
perhaps after too heavy a meal, has his slumbers dis- 
turbed, he never doubts the reality of what is passing, 

^ The Royal Commentaries of p. 138. 
the Incas, vol. i. p. 183. See also ^ Williams's Fiji and the Fijians^ 

Wuttke, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 310. vol. i. p. 242. 

^ Mariner's Tonga Islands, vol. ii. * Melpomene, 172. 



222 SHADOWS 

but considers that he is attacked by some being whom 
his companions cannot see. 

This is well illustrated in the following passage from 
the ' United States Exploring Expedition : ' ^ ' Some- 
' times, when the Australians are asleep, Koin makes 
' his appearance, seizes upon one of them and carries 
' him off. The person seized endeavours in vain to cry 
' out, being almost strangled. At daylight, however, 
' he disappears, and the man finds himself conveyed 
' safely to his own fireside. From this it would appear 
^ that the demon is here a sort of personification of 
* the nightmare — a visitation to which the natives, from 
' their habits of gorging themselves to the utmost when 
^ they obtain a supply of food, must be very subject.' 

The Karens suppose ' that nightmare is caused by 
' an unfriendly spirit sitting on the stomach.' ^ 

Speaking of the Xorth- Western Americans, Mr. 
Sproat says : ^ ' The apparition of ghosts is especially 
' an occasion on which the services of the sorcerers, the 
^ old women, and all the friends of the ghost- seer are 
' in great request. Owing to the quantity of indiges- 
^ tible food eaten by the natives, they often dream that 
' they are visited by ghosts. After a snpper of blubber, 
' followed by one of the long talks about departed 
' friends, which take place round the fire, some nervous 
' and timid person may fancy, in the night-time, that 
' he sees a ghost.' 

In some cases the belief that man possesses a spirit 
seems to have been suggested by the shadow. Thus, 



^ Loc. cit. vol. vi. p. 110. ^ Scenes and Studies of Savage 

2 M'Mahon. Karens of the G. Life,, p. 172. 
Chers., p. 154. 



SHADOWS 223 

among the Fijians/ 'some speak of a man as having 
'two spirits. His shadow is called "the dark spirit," 
' which they say goes to Hades. The other is his like- 
' ness reflected in water or a looking-glass, and is sup- 
' posed to stay near the place in which a man dies. 
' Probably this doctrine of shadows has to do with the 
' notion of inanimate objects having spirits. I once 
' placed a good-looking native suddenly before a mirror. 
'He stood delighted. "Now," said he, softly, "I can 
' "see into the world of spirits." ' 

The North American Indians also consider a man's 
shadow as his soul or life. 'I have,' says Tanner, 
' heard them reproach a sick person for what they con- 
' sidered imprudent exposure in convalescence, tellino- 
' him that his shadow was not well settled down in 
' him.' ' 

The natives of Benin ' call a man's shadow his pass- 
' adoor, or conductor, and believe it will witness if he 
' lived well or ill. If well, he is raised to great happi- 
' ness and dignity in the place before mentioned ; if ill, 
' he is to perish with hunger and poverty.' ^ They are, 
indeed, a most superstitious race ; and Lander mentions 
a case in which an echo was taken for the voice of a 
Fetich.^ The Basutos when walking along a river are 
very careful not to let their shadow fall on the water. 
The crocodile, they think, ' has the power of seizing the 
' shadoAv of a man passing by, and by it draggmg him 
' into the river, where it will certainly kill him, though 

^ Williams's Fiji and the Fijians, p. 531. See also Callaway on the 

vol. i. p. 241. Heligious System of the Amazulu, 

2 Tanner's Captivity, p. 291. p. 91. 

^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, * Niger Expedition, vol. iii. p. 

vol. iii. p. 99. Pinkerton, vol. xvi. 242. 



224 THUNDER 

' it will not eat a morsel of liis flesh.' In Micronesia 
the usual word for soul, ' tamune ' or ' tamre,' means 
properly shadow/ and the same was the case in 
Tasmania.^ 

Thunder, also, was often regarded either as an actual 
deity or as a heavenly voice. ' One night,' says Tanner, 
• Picheto (a North American chief), becoming much 
' alarmed at the violence of the storm, got up and 
' offered some tobacco to the thunder, entreating it to 
' stop.' ^ 

I have already mentioned that savages almost 
always regard spirits as evil beings. We can, I think, 
easily understand why this should be. Amongst the 
very lowest races every other man — amongst those 
slightly more advanced, every man of a different tribe 
— is regarded as naturally, and almost necessarily, 
hostile. A stranger is synonymous with an enemy, 
and a spirit is but a member of an invisible tribe. 

The Hottentots, according to Thunberg, have very 
vague ideas about a good deity. ' They have much 
' clearer notions about an evil spirit, whom they fear, 
' believing him to be the occasion of sickness, death, 
' thunder, and every calamity that befalls them.' ^ The 
Bechuanas attribute all evil to an invisible god, whom 
they call Murimo, and ' never hesitate to show their 
' indignation at any ill experienced, or any wish unac- 
' comj)lished, by the most bitter curses. They have no 
' religious worship, and could never be persuaded by 

^ Hale's Ethnography of the tivity among the Indians, p. 136. 
United States Expl. Exp., p. 98. ^ Thunberg. Pinkerton's Voy- 

~ Bonwick's Daily Life of the ages, vol. xv. p. 142. Astley, loc. 

Tasmanians, p. 182. cit. p. 366. 

^ Tanner's Narrative of a Cap- 



SPIRITS BEGABDED AS EVIL 225 

' the missionaries tliat this was a thing displeasing to 
' God.' 1 

Among the Mosquito Indians there was no name 
for a supreme good spirit, all their appeals were ad- 
dressed to Wulasha, the author of evil.^ 

Among the Bongos of Central Africa ' good spirits 
' are quite unrecognised, and, according to the general 
' negro idea, no benefit can ever come from a spirit.' ^ 

The Abipones of South America, so well described 
by Dobritzhoffer, had some vague notions of an evil 
spirit, but none of a good one.^ The Coroados'*^ of 
Brazil ' acknowledge no cause of good, or no god, but 
' only an evil principle, which .... leads him astray, 
' vexes him, brings him into difficulty and danger, and 
' even kills him.' 

In Virginia and Florida the evil spirit was wor- 
shipped and not the good, because the former might be 
propitiated, while the latter was sure to do all the good 
he could.^ So also the ' Cemis ' of the West Indian 
Islands were regarded as evil, and ' reputed to be the 
' authors of every calamity that affects the human 
' race.' ^ The Redskin, says Carver,^ 'lives in continual 
' apprehension of the unkind attacks of spirits, and to 
' avert them has. recourse to charms, to the fantastic cere- 
' monies of his priest, or the powerful influence of his 
' manitous. Fear has of course a greater share in his 
' devotions than gratitude, and he pays more attention 



1 Lichtenstein, vol. ii. p. 382. ^ Spix and Martius, vol. ii. p. 242. 

^ Bancroft, loc. cit. p. 740. ^ Miiller's Gescli. d. American. 

^ Schweinfurth's Heart of Africa, Urreligionen, p. 151. 

vol. i. p. 306. '^ Robertson's America, book iv. 

■* Dobritzhoffer, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 124. 

pp. 35, 64. ^ Travels, p. 388. 

Q 



226 SPIBIT8 BEGAEDED AS CAUSING DISEASE 

' to deprecating the wrath of the evil than securing 
' the favour of the good beings.' The Tartars of Kats- 
chiutzai also considered the evil spirits to be more power- 
ful than the good.^ The West Coast negroes, according 
to Artus,^ represent their deities as ' black and mischiev- 
^ ous, delighting to torment them in various ways. They 
' said that the Europeans' God was very good, who gave 
' them such blessings, and treated them like His chil- 
' dren. Others asked, murmuring, why God was not as 
' kind to them ? Why did not He supply them with 
' woollen and linen cloth, iron, brass, and such things, 
' as well as the Dutch ? The Dutch answered, that 
' God had not neglected them, since He had sent them 
'gold, palm-wine, fruits, corn, oxen, goats, hens, and 
' many other things necessary to life, as tokens of His 
' bounty. But there was no persuading them these 
' things came from God. They said the earth, and not 
' God, gave them gold, which was dug out of its bowels ; 
' that the earth yielded them maize and rice, and that not 
' without the help of their own labour ; that for fruits 
' they were obliged to the Portuguese, who had planted 
' the trees ; that their cattle brought them young ones, 
' and the sea furnished them with fish ; that, however, 
' in all these their own industry and labour were re- 
' quired, without which they must starve ; so that they 
' could not see how they were obliged to God for any of 
' those benefits.' When Burton spoke to the Eastern 
negroes about the Deity, they eagerly asked where he 
was to be found, in order that they might kill him ; 
for they said, ' W^ho but he lays waste our homes, and 

1 Pallas, vol. iii. p. 433. 

^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 664. 



SPIRITS BEGABDUD AS CAUSING DISEASE 227 

' kills our wives and cattle ? ' The following expres- 
sion of Eesa feelings, overheard by Burton, gives a 
dreadful illustration of this idea. An old woman, be- 
longing to that Arab tribe, having a toothache, offered 
up the following prayer : ' Oh, Allah, may thy teeth 
' ache like mine ! Oh, Allah, may thy gums be as sore 
^ as mine ! ' Can this be called ' religion ' ? Surely in 
spirit it is the very reverse. 

Canon Callaway, speaking of the Kaffirs, after quot- 
ing similar opinions from Moffat, Yanderkemp, Casalis 
and Arbousset, expresses his own conviction ^ that ' in the 
' native mind there is scarcely any notion of deity, if any.' 
'The word " morimo " or " molimo," often translated 
' God, may be nothing more than an earthly chief, still 
' celebrated by name.' 

Dr. Mxon, first Bishop of Tasmania, tells ^ us that 
among the natives of that country 'no trace can be 
' found of the existence of any religious usage, or even 
' sentiment amongst them ; unless, indeed, we may call 
' by that name the dread of a malignant and destructive 
' spirit, which seems to have been their predominant, if 
' not their only, feeling on the subject.' 

' Of a supreme and beneficent God,' says Hunter,^ 
' the Santal ha'g^ no conception. His religion is a 
' religion of terror and degradation. Hunted and driven 
' from c ountry to country by a superior race, he cannot 
' understand how a being can be more powerful than him- 
' self without wishing to harm him.' The Circassians * 
and some of the Chinese ^ have also similar opinions. 

^ Callaway. The Religious Sys- ^ Annalsof Rural Bengal, p. 18L 

tern of the Amazulu, p. 124. ^ Klemm, Allg. Cult. d. Mensch., 

^ Bonwick's Daily Life • of the vol. iv. p. 36. 

Tasmanians; p. 172. ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1870, p. 21. 

Q 2 



228 MADNESS BEVEBENGED 

Hence it is that mad people are in many countries 
looked on with so much reverence, since they are re- 
garded as the special abode of some deity.\ Savages 
who believe that diseases are owing to magic naturally 
conclude that death is so too. Far from having realised 
to themselves the idea of a future life, they have not 
even learnt that death is the natural end of this one. 
We find a very general conviction among savages that 
there is no such thing as natural death, and that when 
a man dies without being wounded he must be the 
victim of magic. 

Thus Mr. Lang,^ speaking of the Australians, says 
that whenever a native dies, ' no matter how evident it 
' may be that death has been the result of natural causes, 
' it is at once set down that the defunct was bewitched 
' by the sorcerers of some neighbouring tribe.' Among 
the natives of Southern Africa no one is supposed to 
die naturally.^ The Bechuanas, says Philip, ' and all 
' the Kaffir tribes, have no idea of any man dying except 
* from hunger, violence, or witchcraft. If a man die 
' even at the age of ninety, if he do not die of hunger 
' or by violence, his death is imputed to sorcery or to 
' witchcraft, and blood is required to expiate or avenge 
' it.' ^ So also Battel tells us that on the Guinea Coast 
' none on any account dieth, but that some other has 
' bewitched them to death.' ^ Dobritzhoffer ^ mentions 
that ' even if an Abipon die from being pierced with 

^ See Cook, Voyage to the vol. i. p. 47. 
Pacific, vol. ii. p. 18. ^ Philip's South Africa, vol. i. p. 

2 Lecture on the Aborigines of 118. 
Australia, p. 14. See also Oldfield's ^ Adventures of Andrew Battel, 

Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S., vol. iii. p. Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 334. See also 

230. Astley, vol. ii. p. 300. 

^ Chapman's Travels in Africa, ^ Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 84. 



BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT 229 

'many wounds, or from having his bones broken, or 
' his strength exhausted by extreme old age, his country- 
' men all deny that wounds or weakness occasioned his 
' death, and anxiously try to discover by which of the 
'jugglers, and for what reason, he was killed.' Stevenson^ 
states that in South America ' the Indians never be- 
' lieve that death is owing to natural causes, but that it 
' is the effect of sorcery and witchcraft. Thus, on the 
' death of an individual, one or more diviners are con- 
' suited, who generally name the enchanter, and are so 
' implicity believed, that the unfortunate object of their 
' caprice or malice is certain to fall a sacrifice.' Wallace^ 
found the same idea among the tribes of the Amazons ; 
Mliller ^ m.entions it as prevalent among the Dacotahs ; 
Hearne"* among the Hudson's Bay Indians. 

But though spirits are naturally much to be dreaded 
on various accounts, it by no means follows that they 
should be conceived as necessarily wiser or more power- 
ful than men. Of this our table-turners and spirit- 
rappers give a modern illustration. So also the natives 
of the Nicobar Islands were in the habit of putting up 
scarecrows to frighten the ' Eewees ' away from their 
villages.^ The inhabitants of Kamtschatka, according 
to Kotzebue,^ insult their deities if their wishes are 
unfulfilled. They even feel a contempt for them. If 
Kutka, they say, had not been so stupid, would he 
have made inaccessible rocks, and too rapid rivers ? ^ 



^ Travels in South America, vol. p. 66. 
p. 60. '' Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 1.3. 

^ Loc. cit. p. 500. ^ Klemm, Cult. d. Menscheu, vol. 

^ Amer. Urreligionen, p. 82. ii. p. ol8. Miiller's Des. de toutes 

^ Loc. cit. p. 338. les Nations de I'Empire Russe, pt. 

^ Voyage of the ' Novara,' vol. ii. iii. p. 92. 



230 BISBELIJSF OF NATURAL DEATH 

The Lapps, according to Klemm, made idols for their 
deities, and placed each in a separate box, on which 
they indicate the name of the deity, so that each might 
know its own box.^ 

Vancouver ^ mentions that the inhabitants of Owhy- 
hee were seriously offended with their deity for per- 
mitting the death of a j^opular young chief named 
Whokaa. Yate observes ^ that the New Zealanders, 
attributing certain diseases to the attacks of the Atua, 
endeavoured either to propitiate or drive him away ; in 
the latter case ' they make use of the most threatening 
' and outrageous language, sometimes telling their deity 
' that they will kill and eat him.' 

In India the seven great ' Rishis ' or penitents are 
described in some of the popular tales as even superior 
to the gods. One of them is said to have ' paid a visit 
' to each of the three principal divinities of India, and 
' began his interview by giving each of them a kick ! 
' His object was to know how they would demean them- 
' selves, and to find out their temper, by the conduct 
' which they would adopt upon such a salutation. The 
' penitents always maintained a kind of superiority over 
' the gods, and punished them severely when they found 
Hheminfault.'^ 

How far the ' religion ' of a low race may differ 
from ours we may see in the case of the Todas. They 
can indeed hardly be said to have no god, ' but their con- 
' ception of a supreme being is quite without definition. 



' 5 



^ Zoc. cit. vol. iii. p. 81. 141. D'Urville's Voyage de TAstro- 

'^ Voyage of Discovery, vol. iii. labe, vol. iii. pp. 245, 440, 470. 
P- 14. 4 Dubois^ Iqc, cit. p. 304. 

2 Account of New Zealand, p. ^ Marshall's Todas, p. 124. 



I 



LOW IDJEAS OF SPIRITS 231 

So different is their idea of a deity from ours, that they 
regard certain bells, hatchets, and knives as deities ; 
also certain buffaloes, in whom the sacred character is 
hereditary ; and also the ' Palal,' a man who is not a 
chief, nor a priest, but who has special functions con- 
nected with the dairy, which invest him with a 
divine character. Though he regards himself, and is 
regarded by them, as a god, he may again become a 
man, if he can induce anyone to take his sacred office, 
and incur the tedium of the isolation which it involves. 

The negro of Guinea beats his Fetich if his wishes 
are not complied with, and hides him in his waist -cloth 
if about to do anything of which he is ashamed, so 
that the Fetich may not be able to see .what is going 
on.^ 

During a storm the Bechuanas cursed the deity for 
sending thunder ; '^ the Mincopies ^ and the Namaquas 
shot poisoned arrows at storms to drive them away.^ 
When the Basuto (Kaffir) is on a marauding expedition 
he ' gives utterance to those cries and hisses in which 
' cattle drivers indulge when they drive a herd before 
' them ; thinking in this manner to persuade the poor 
' divinities (of the^ountry they are attacking) that he 
' is bringing cattle to their worshippers, instead of 
' coming to take it from them.' ^ 

According to Thomson,^ the natives of Cambodia 
assumed that the deity did not understand foreign 



^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, ^ Wood's Natural History of 

vol. ii. p. 668. Tuckey's Exp. to the Man, vol. i. p. 307. 

Zaire, p. 377. ^ Casalis' Basutos, p. 2-53 

^ Chapman's Travels in Africa, ^' Trans. Ethn. Soc, vol. vi. p. 

vol. i. p. 45. 250. 

3 13ay, p. 172. 



232 LOW IDEAS OF SPIRITS 

languages. Franklin ^ says that the Cree Indians treat 
their deity, whom they call Kepoochikawn, ' with con- 
' siderable familiarity, interlarding their most solemn 
' speeches with expostulations and threats of neglect if 
' he fails in complying with their requests.' The North 
Australian native ^ will not go near graves ' at night by 
' himself ; but when obliged to pass them he carries a 
' fire- stick to keep off the spirit of darkness.' 

The Kyoungtha of Chittagong are Buddhists. Their 
village temples contain a small stand of bells and an 
image of Boodh, which the villagers generally worship 
morning and evening, ' first ringing the bells to let him 
* know that they are there.' ^ The Shin too temples of 
the Sun Goddess in Japan also contain a bell, ' intended 
' to arouse the goddess and to awaken her attention to 
' the prayers of her worshippers.' * According to the 
Brahmans,^ 'two things are indispensably necessary 
' to the sacrificer in performing the ceremony : several 
' lighted lamps and a bell.' 

The Shamans among the Tonguses and Buraets, ac- 
cording to Miiller, ' font resonner le tambour magique 
^ pour convoquer les Dieux, les Diables, et les E sprits, 
' et pour les rendre attentifs.' ^ The Tartars of the 
Altai picture to themselves the Deity as an old man 
with a long beard, and dressed in the uniform of a 
Russian officer of dragoons.^ The ancient Finns 



^ Visit to the Polar Seas, vol. iv. p. 49. See also GutzlafF's Three 

p. 146. Voyages to China, p. 273. 

^ Keppel's Visit to the Indian ^ Dubois, The People of India, 

Archipelago, vol. ii. p. 182. p. 400. 

^ Lewin's Hill Tracts of Ohitta- ^ Miiller's Des. de toutes les Na- 

gong, p. 39. tions de I'Empire Russe, pt. iii. p. 159. 

'^ Smith's Ten Weeks in Japan, "^ Ibid. pt. iii. p. 142. 



GREEK AND ROMAN CONCEPTIONS 233 

had no idea of immortality in connection with their 
deities.^ 

Even the Greeks and Romans believed stories very 
derogatory, not only to the moral character, but to the 
intellect and power of their deities. Thus they were 
liable to defeat from mortals ; Mars, though the God of 
War, was wounded by Diomed and fled away howling 
with pain. They had little or no power over the ele- 
ments ; they had no foreknowledge, and were often 
represented as inferior, both morally and mentally, to 
men. Even Homer does not seem to have embraced 
the idea of omnipotence.^ 

Again, Diomed not only wounds Venus in the hand, 
but addresses her in most insulting terms : — 

Daughter of Jove, from battlefields retire ; 
Enough for thee weak women to delude ; 
If war thou seek'st, the lesson thou shalt learn 
Shall cause thee shudder but to hear it named.^ 



Venus flies to Dione, who 



sayj 



Have patience, dearest child ; though much enforced, 

Restrain thine anger ; we, in heaven who dwell, 

Have much to bear from mortals ; and ourselves 

Too oft upon each other sufferings lay. 

Mars had his sufferings ; by Aloeus' sons, 

Otus and Ephialtes, strongly bound, 

He thirteen mouths in brazen fetters lay : 

And there had pined away the God of War, 

Insatiate Mars, had not their stepmother, 

The beauteous Eriboea, sought the aid 

Of Hermes ; he by stealth released the god. 

Sore worn and wasted by his galling chains. 

Juno too suffered, when Amphitryon's son 

Through her right breast a three-barbed arrow sent. 

^ L. le Due. La Finlande, vol. i. System of Mythology, p. 292. 
p. Ixiii. ^ Iliad, Lord Derby's translation, 

^ Gladstone's Juventus Mundi, v. 397. 
pp. 198, 228. See also Muller's Sci. 



234 SAVAGE IDEAS AS TO EOLIFSES 

Dire^ and unheard-of, were the pangs she bore. 

Great Pluto's self the stinging arrow felt, 

"When that same son of aegis-bearing Jove 

Assailed him in the very gates of hell, 

And wrought him keenest anguish ; pierced with pain 

To high Olympus, to the courts of Jove, 

Groaning he came ; the bitter shaft remained 

Deep in his shoulder fixed, and grieved his soul ; 

But Paeon's hand with soothing anodynes 

(For death on him v^^as powerless) healed the wound. 

In fact, it may truly be said that the savage has a 
much greater respect for his chief than for his god.^ 
This low estimate of spirits is shown in a very striking 
manner by the behaviour of savages during eclipses. 
All over the world we find races of men who believe 
that the sun and moon are alive, and who consider 
that during eclipses they are either quarrelling with each 
other, or attacked by the evil spirits of the air. Hence 
it naturally follows, although to us it seems absurd, 
that the savage endeavours to assist the sun or moon. 
The Greenlanders '^ regard the sun and moon as sister 
and brother ; the former being the female, and being 
constantly pursued by the latter. During an eclipse 
they think the moon ' goes about among the houses to 
' pilfer their skins and eatables, and even to kill those 
' people that have not duly observed the rules of absti- 
' nence. At such times they hide away everything, and 
' the men carry chests and kettles on the top of the 
' house, and rattle and beat upon them to frighten away 
' the moon, and make him return to his place. At an 
' eclipse of the sun the women pinch the dogs by the 
' ears ; if they cry, 'tis a sign that the end of the world 
^ is not yet come.' 

^ See Burton's Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 180. Dubois, loc. cit. pp. 304, 430. 
^ Crantz, vol. i. p. 232. 



8AVAGE IDEAS A8 TO UGLIPSES 235 

The Iroquois, says Doctor Mitchell,^ believe that 
eclipses are caused by a bad spirit, ' who mischievously 
' intercepts the light intended to be shed upon the earth 
* and its inhabitants. Upon such occasions the greatest 
' solicitude exists. All the individuals of the tribe feel 
^ a strong desire to drive away the demon, and to re- 
' move thereby the impediment to the transmission of 
' luminous rays. For this purpose they go forth, and, 
' by crying, shouting, drumming, and the firing of guns, 
' endeavour to frighten him. They never fail in their 
' object ; for by courage and perseverance they infallibly 
' drive him off. His retreat is succeeded by a return of 
' the obstructed light.' 

The Caribs, says Lafitau, accounted for eclipses by 
supposing either that the moon was ill, or that she was 
attacked by enemies ; these they endeavoured to drive 
away by dances, by cries, and by the sacred rattle.^ 
Some of the northern Mexican tribes had a very similar 
custom, and under the same impression the natives of 
Yucatan used to beat their dogs, and make other noises 
during eclipses. The Chiquito Indians,^ according to 
Dobritzhoffer, imagine^ that the sun and moon during 
eclipses are ' cruelly torn by dogs, with which they 
' think that the air abounds, when they see their light 
' fail ; attributing their blood-red colour to the bites of 
' these animals. Accordingly, to defend their dear 
' planets from those aerial mastiffs, they send a shower 
' of arrows up into the sky, amid loud vociferations, at 
' the time of the eclipse.' When the Guaycurus, says 

^ Archseol. Americana, vol. i. p. Islands, p. 272. Depons' Trav. in 

351. S. America, vol. i. p. 197. 

- Lafitau, vol. i. pp. 248, 252. ^ ^^c. cit. vol. ii. p. 84. 

Tertre, History of the Caribby 



236 VARIOUS NOTIONS AS TO ECLIPSES 

Charlevoix, ' think themselves threatened with a storm, 
' they sally out of their towns, the men armed with 
* their mancanas, and the women and children howling 
' with all their might ; for they believe that, by so doing, 
' they put to flight the devil that intended to excite it.' ^ 
The ancient Peruvians, also, during eclipses of the moon, 
used to beat their dogs in order that by their bowlings 
they might awaken her out of the swoon into which she 
was supposed to have fallen.^ In parts of Polynesia, 
also, eclipses were attributed to attacks on the sun and 
moon by celestial beings.^ 

In China the same idea has prevailed from time 
immemorial, and from the reign of Tcheou, 1100 B.C., 
a Court astronomer has regularly been appointed, whose 
business it was to announce any approaching eclipse. 
The Court (and this custom has continued even down to 
our own time) then assembled, the Emperor solemnly 
beat a tambour, while the Mandarins shot arrows into 
the sky to assist the luminary which is eclipsed.* The 
Steins of Cambodia,^ like the Cambodians themselves, 
account for eclipses by the hypothesis ' that some Being 
' has swallowed up the sun and the moon ; and, in 
' order to deliver them, they made a frightful noise, 
' beat the tam-tam, uttered savage cries, and shot arrows 
' into the air, until the sun reappeared.' 

During an eclipse the Sumatrans^ also ' make a loud 
^ noise with sounding instruments, to prevent one 

^ History of Paraguay, vol. i. p. Pallas, vol. iv. p. 220. 
92. See also p. 203. -^ Mouhot's Travels in Indo- 

- G. de la Vega, vol. i. p. 181 ; China, vol. i. p. 253. 
Martins, loc. cit. p. 32. " Marsden's History of Sumatra, 

3 Turner's Samoa, pp. 274, 282. p. 194. Anderson's Mission to 

^ Biot, Astronomie Indienne et Sumatra, p. 76. 
Chinoise, pp. 233, 355. See also 



VARIOUS NOTIONS AS TO EOLIFSUS 237 

' luminary from devouring the other, as the Cliinese, to 
* frighten away the dragon ; a superstition that has its 
' source in the ancient systems of astronomy (particu- 
' larly the Hindu), where the nodes of the moon are 
' identified with the dragon's head and vail. They tell 
' of a man in the moon who is continually employed in 
' spinning cotton, but that every night a rat gnaws his 
' thread, and obliges him to begin his work afresh.' 

' In Eastern Africa,' Speke^ mentions that on one 
occasion, ' as there was a partial eclipse of the moon, all 
' the Wanguana marched up and down from Rumanika's 
' to Nnanagi's huts, singing and beating our tin cook- 
' ing-pots to frighten off the spirit of the sun from con- 
' suming entirely the chief object of reverence, the moon.' 
Lander^ mentions that at Boussa, in Central Africa, an 
eclipse was attributed to an attack made by the sun on 
the moon. Durmg the whole time the eclipse lasted 
the natives made as much noise as possible, ' in the 
' hope of being able to frighten away the sun to his 
' proper sphere, and leave the moon to enlighten the 
' world as at other times.' 

I was myself at Darhoot, in Upper Egypt, one year, 
during an eclipse of the moon, and the natives fired guns, 
either to frighten away the moon's assailants, or as some 
said out of joy at her escape from danger, though I 
observed that the firing began during the eclipse. 

I reserve to a future chapter the consideration of 
the ideas which prevail among the lower races on the 
subject of the soul ; but I must here remark that one of 
the difficulties in arriving at any clear conception of the 

1 Speke, p. 243. 

2 R. and I. Landers' Niger Expedition, vol. ii, pp. 180, 183. 



238 BELIEF IN GHOSTS 

religious system of the longer races arises from a confu- 
sion between a belief in ghosts, and that in an immortal 
spirit. Yet the two are essentially distinct ; and the 
spirit is not necessarily regarded as immortal, because 
it does not perish with the body. The negroes, for in- 
stance, says one of our keenest observers. Captain 
Burton, ' believe in a ghost, but not in a spirit ; in a 
' present immaterial, but not in a future.' ^ Countino- 
on nothing after the present life, there is for them no 
hope beyond the grave. They wail and sorrow with a 
burden of despair. ' '' Am ek wis ha " — " he is finished " 
' — is the East African's last word concerning parent or 
' friend. '' All is done for ever," sing the West Africans. 
' The least allusion to loss of life makes their black 
' skins pale. " Ah ! " they exclaim, '' it is bad to die ; to 
' " leave house and home, wife and children ; no more to 
' '' wear soft cloth, nor eat meat, nor smoke tobacco." ' 
The Bongos of Soudan have, says SchAveinfurth,2not the 
remotest conception of immortality. They have no more 
idea of the transmigration of souls, or any doctrine of the 
kind, than they have of the existence of an ocean. The 
Hudson's Bay Indians, according to Hearne,^ a good 
observer, and one who had ample means of judging, had 
no idea of any life after death. 

In other cases the spirit is supposed to survive the 
body for a certain time, and to linger about its old 
abode. Ask the negro, says M. Du Chaillu,^ ' where is 
' the spirit of his great-grandfather ? he says he does 
' not know ; it is done. Ask him about the spirit of his 

^ Burton, Trans. Ethn. Soc, ^ Loc. eit. p. 344. 

N.S., vol. i. p. 323. 4 Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. i. 

- Heart of Africa, vol. i. p. 304. p. 309. 



BELIEF m GHOSTS 239 

' father or brother who died yesterday, then he is full 
' of fear and terror ; he believes it to be generally near 
' the place where the body has been buried, and among 
' many tribes the village is removed immediately after 
' the death of one of the inhabitants.' The same belief 
prevails among the Amazulu Kaffirs, as has been well 
shown by Mr. Callaway.-^ They believe that the spirits 
of their deceased fathers and brothers still live, because 
they appear in dreams ; by inverse reasoning, however, 
grandfathers are generally regarded as having ceased to 
exist ; perhaps in some cases because the spirit is sup- 
posed to have taken, and identified itself with, a new 
body. 

Bosman mentions that on the Guinea Coast, when 
' any considerable person dies, they perplex one another 
' with horrid fears, proceeding from an opinion that he 
' appears for several nights successively near his late 
' dwelling.' ^ Thus it seems that the power of a ghost 
after death bears some relation to that which the man 
possessed when alive. 

For the dead, also, the prospect is cheerless enough. 
According to Livingstone, for instance, the natives of 
Angola fancy that when dead they will be ' completely 
' in the power of the disembodied spirits, and look upon 
' the prospect of following them as the greatest of mis- 
' fortunes.' ^ 

Other negroes think that after death they become 
white men^ — a curious idea, which also occurs in 



^ The Religious System of the ^ Travels in S. Africa^ p. 440. 

lazulu, 1860. * Bosman, loc. cit. p. 401. 

^ Bosman, loc. cit. p. 402. 



240 FUTURE LIFE DEPENDENT ON MODE OF DEATH 

Australia/ ^ in Tasmania,^ in Tanna,^ New Guinea,^ and 
New Caledonia ; ^ that is to say, in at least four of the 
most distinct human races. Among the Tipperahs of 
Chittagong, if a man dies away from home, his relatives 
stretch a thread over all the intermediate streams, so 
that the spirit of the dead man may return to his 
own village ; it being supposed that ' without as- 
' sistance spirits are unable to cross running water ; 
' therefore the stream here had been bridged in the 
'manner aforesaid.'^ We know that a somewhat 
similar idea existed in Europe, and it occurs also in the 
Fiji Islands. 

Again, some modes of death are sup230sed to kill not 
only the body, but the spirit also. Thus a Bushman, 
having put to death a woman, who was a magician, 
dashed the head of the corpse to pieces with large 
stones, buried her, and made a large fire over the grave, 
for fear, as he explained to Lichtenstein, she should 
rise again and ' trouble him.' '^ The Hervey Islanders 
believed that all who die a natural death are annihi- 
lated.^ Even the New Zealanders believed that a man 
who was eaten was destroyed, both body and spirit. 
The same idea evidently influenced the Calif ornian who, 
as recorded by Mr. Gibbs, did not dispute the im- 
mortality of the whites who buried their dead, but 



' Lang's Queensland, pp. 348, ^ Brenchley's Cruise of the 

354. Trans. Etlin. Soc. vol. iii. 259. ' Curacoa,' p. 342. See also Bur- 

- Bonwick's Daily Life of the ton's Dahome, vol. ii. p. 165. 
Tasmanians, p. 184. ^ Le win's Hill Tracts of Chitta- 

^ Turner's Nineteen Years in gong, p. 84. 
Polynesia, p. 424. '^ Lichtenstein, vol. ii. p. 61. 

^ Gill, Journ. R. Geog. Soc. 1873, § Gill,Myths of the SouthPacific, 

p. 33. p. 162. 



I 



BELIEF IN THE PLURALITY OF SOULS 241 

could not believe the same of his own people, because 
they were in the habit of burning them.^ 

In these cases it will be observed that the existence 
of the ghost depends upon the manner of death and 
the mode of burial. This is no doubt absurd, but it is 
not illogical. The savage's idea of a spirit is something 
ethere al indeed, but not altogether immaterial, and con- 
sequently it may be injured by violence. Some races 
believe in ghosts of the living, as well as of the dead. 
For instance, the Fijians^ believe 'that the spirit of 
' a man who still lives will leave the body to trouble 
' other people when asleep. When anyone faints or 
' dies, his spirit, it is said, may sometimes be brought 
' back by calling after it.' 

Even when the ideas of a soul and of a future life 
are more developed, they are far from always taking the 
direction of our beliefs. Thus the Caribs and Redskins 
believe that a man has more than one soul ; to this 
they are probably led by the pulsation of the heart and 
the arteries, which they regard as evidences of independ- 
ent life. Thus also they account for inconsistencies of 
behaviour. 

The belief in ghosts, then, is essentially different 
from our notions of a future life. Ghosts are mortal, 
they haunt burial-grounds and hover round their own 
graves. Even when a higher stage has been gained, the 
place of departed souls is not a heaven, but merely a 
better earth. 

Divination and sorcery are so widely distributed 
that they may almost be said to have been universal. 

1 Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, pt. ^ ]piji and tlie Fijians, vol. i. 

iii. p. 107. p. 242. 



242 DIVINATION 

Their characteristics are so well known and so similar all 
over the world, that I shall only give a few suggestive 
illustrations. 

Whipple ^ thus describes a scene of divination among 
the Cherokee s. The priest, having concluded an elo- 
quent address, took ' a curiously wrought bowl, alleged 
' to be of great antiquity ; he filled it with water and 
' placed the black substance within, causing it to move 
' from one side to the other, and from bottom to top, 
' by a word. Alluding, then, to danger and foes, the 
' enchanted mineral fled from the point of his knife ; 
'bat as he began to speak of peace and security, it 
' turned toward and clung to it, till lifted entirely from 
' the water. The priest finally interpreted the omen by 
' informing the people that peace was in the ascendant, 
' no enemy being near.' In West Africa ^ they have a 
mode of divination with nuts, ' which they pretend to 
' take up by guess, and let fall again ; after which they 
' tell them, and form their answers according as the 
'numbers are even or odd.' The negroes of Egba^ 
consult Shango by ' throwing sixteen pierced cowries : 
' if eight fall upwards and eight downwards, it is peace ; 
' if all are upwards, it is also a good sign ; and, vice 
' versa, if all fall with their teeth to the ground, it 
' is war.' 

Many races use shoulder-blades in divination. The 
bone is placed in the fire and the future is indicated by 
the arrangement of the cracks (figs. 15-17). The 
same custom exists among the Lapps, the Mongols,^ and 

^ Keport on the Indian Tribes, ^ Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 188. 

p. 35. 4 Klemm, Cult, der Mensch., yol. 

^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, iii. p. 199. 
vol. ii. p. 674. 



DIVINATION 



243 



Tonguses ^ of Siberia, the Affghans,^ the Bedouins, and 
even in our own country.^ The lines vary of course 
greatly ; still, there are certain principal cracks which 
usually occur. The accompanying figures of Kalmuck 
specimens are copied from Klemm, who explains, after 
Pallas, the meanino; of the various lines. 



Fig. 15 




SHOULDEK-BLADES PEEPAEED EOE BIVIN'ATION' 

('Klemm, Culturg. der Menschlieit, vol. iii. p. 200.) 

Other Yakuts profess to foretell the future by the 
lines of the palm of the hand.^ 



^ Miiller's Des. de toutes les 
Nat. de I'Emp. Russe, pt. iii. p. 163. 

- Masson's Journeys in Beloo- 
chistan, vol. iii. p. 334. 

^ Tylor's Primitive Culture, vol. 



ii. p. 113. Brand's Pop. Ant., vol. 
iii. p. 339. Forbes Leslie, Early 
Races of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 491. 

^ Miiller's Des. de toutes les 
Nat. de I'Emp. Russe, pt. iii. p. 163. 

E 2 



244 DIVINATION 

The Chipewyans of North America also make their 
magic drawings on shoulder-blades, which they then 
throw into the fire.^ Williams ^ describes various modes 
of divination practised in Fiji. 

Canon Callaway gives an interesting account of 
divination as practised among the Zulus, and mentions 
one case in which the persons enquiring of the magician 
gave him no clue to the answer they expected, upon 
which he gravely told them that ' they did not know 
^how to enquire of a diviner,' so he would send his 
servant to hear their case, and put the enquiries for 
them ; an amusing illustration of the manner in which 
people allow themselves to be deceived.^ 

Dr. Anderson mentions a similar illustration from 
West Yunan.^ ' Three men had gone to the Kakhyen 
^ hills, and a report having reached their families that 
' one of them had died, the old hags were deciding 
' upon the truth of the rumour, and determining which 
' of the men it was who had passed into Natland. To 
' arrive at this, they had taken, for each of the men 
^ whose fates were to be determined, a small piece of 
^ cotton- wool, and strung it through the eye of a needle ; 
' and giving to each a special mark and the name of a 
' man, they had let the needles gently into the water, in 
'which they were suspended by the cotton float. It 
' takes some time before the cotton is so thoroughly 
' wetted as to sink, but the needle which first drops to 
' the bottom consigns the unfortunate whose name it 
* bears to the land of forge tfulness.' 

1 Tanner's Narrative, p. 192. ^ i^eligious System of the Ama- 

'•^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. zulu, pt. iii. p. 328. 

p. 228. See also Mariner's Tonga * Exped. to Western Yunan, 

Islands, vol. ii. p. 239. p. 236. 



SOECEEY 245 

When the Zulu soldiers go to battle, theu^ wives 
hang up against the walls of their huts ' a simple mat 
'of rushes which they have themselves plaited. As 
' long as that casts a little shade upon the wall, the 
' credulous woman believes that her husband is safe ; 
' but when it ceases to do so the sight of it is produc- 
' tive only of grief.' ^ ■ 

In New Zealand, before a warlike expedition is 
undertaken, the natives sometimes plant sticks in the 
ground in two rows, one of which denotes their own 
party, the other that of the enemy. If the wind blows 
the enemy's sticks backw^ards, they will be defeated ; 
if forwards, they will be victorious ; if obliquely, the 
expedition will be indecisive. The same criterion is 
applied to their own sticks.^ 

This is a case of divination, but from it to sorcery 
is a short and obvious step. When once it is granted 
that the fall of a stick certainly preludes that of the 
person it represents, it follows that by upsetting the 
stick his death can be caused. 

We find a very similar idea in the Western High- 
lands of Scotland. In the ' Sea Maiden ' a mermaid 
appears to a fisherman, and gives him three seeds, 
which are to produce three trees, which ' will be a sign, 
' when one of the sons dies, one of the trees will 
' wither ; ,' and this accordingly took place.'"^ A sup- 
posed prophet of the Shawnees (North America) sent 
word to Tanner that the fire in his lodge was inti- 
mately connected with his life. ' Henceforth,' said he, 



^ Arbousset's Tour to the Cape ^ Oamp'beirs Tales of the West 

of Good Hope, p. 145. Highlands, vol. i. p. 71. 

- Yate's New Zealand, p. 91. 



246 80BGEBT 

' the fire must never be suffered to go out in your 
'lodge. Summer and winter, day and niglit, in tlie 
' storm or when it is calm, you must remember that 
' the life in your body and the fire in your lodge are the 
' same. If you suffer your fire to be extinguished, at 
' that moment your life will be at an end.' ^ 

Father Merolla mentions a case in which a Congo 
(negro) witch tried to destroy him. With this object 
she dug a hole in the ground, ' and I resolved,' says the 
worthy Father,^ ' not to stand long in one place, thereby 
' to avoid the design she had upon me to bewitch me 
' to death, that having been the reason of her making a 
' hole in the earth. It seems their custom is, that when 
' they have a mind to bewitch anyone mortally, they 
' put a certain herb or plant into the hole they have so 
' dug ; which as it perishes or decays, so the vigour 
' and spirits of the person they have a design upon 
' will fail and decay.' In Fiji^ ' one mode of operat- 
' ing is to bury a cocoa-nut, with the eye upwards, 
' beneath the temple liearth, on which a fire is kept 
' constantly burning ; and as the life of the nut is 
' destroyed, so the health of the person it represents 
' will fail, till death ensues. At Matuku there is a 
' grove sacred to the god Tokalau, the wind. The 
' priest promises the destruction of any hated person in 
' four days if those who wish his death bring a portion 
' of his hair, dress, or food which he has left. This 
' priest keeps a fire burning and approaches the place 
' on his hands and knees. If the victim bathe before 
' the fourth day the spell is broken. The most common 

^ Tanner's Narrative, p. 156. ^ Y\]\ and the Fijians, vol. i. 

2 Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 290. p. 248. 



SOBCKBY 24.7 

^ method, however, is the Vakadranikau, or compound- 
' ing of certain leaves supposed to ^^ossess a magical 

* power, and which are wrapped in other leaves, or put 
' into a small bamboo case, and buried in the garden of 
' the person to be bewitched, or hidden in the thatch of 
' his house. The native imagination is so absolutely 

* under the control of the fear of these charms, that 
' persons, hearing that they were the objects of such 
^ spells, have lain down on their mats, and died through 
' fear. Those who have reason to suspect others of 
' plotting against them avoid eating in their presence, or 
' are careful to leave no fragment of food behind ; they 
' also dispose their garments so that no part can be re- 
' moved. Most natives on cutting their hair hide what 
' is cut off in the thatch of their own houses. Some 
' build themselves a small house, and surround it with 

' a njoat, believing that a little water will neutralise 
' the charms which are directed against them.' In North 
America, to ensure a successful war, courtship, or hunt, 
the Indians make a rude drawing or a little image to 
represent the man, woman, or animal ; then medicine 
is applied to it ; or, if the design is to cause death, the 
heart is pierced.^ The Romans, when sacrifices were 
forbidden, used as a substitute to throw dolls into the 
Tiber, and in India the magicians make small figures of 
mud, on the breasts of which they write the names of 
those whom they wish to annoy. They then ' pierce the 
' images with thorns, or mutilate them, so as to communi- 
' cate a corresponding injury to the person represented.' ^ 
Amono; the G-reeks also we find the same idea that 

^ Tanner's Narrative, p. 174. 

2 Dubois, The People of India, p. 347. 



248 CONFUSION OF NAME AND THING 

if a witch could obtain the cHppings of anyone's hair she 
might thus acquire power over them/ 

In one of the despatches intercepted during our war 
with Nepaul, Gouree Sah sent orders to ' find out the 
' name of the Commander of the British Army ; write 
' it upon a piece of paper ; take it, and some rice and tur- 
' meric, say the great incantation three times ; having said 
' it, send for some plum-tree wood and therewith burn it.' ^ 

The Tibeto-Burman tribes are held by sorcery in ' an 
^ atmosphere of distrust, dread and revenge.' ^ 

In other cases, the possession of a person's name is 
sufiicient ; and, indeed, all over the world we find more 
or less confusion between a thing or a person, and its 
or his name. Hence the importance attached in North 
America. Polynesia, and South Africa to an exchange 
of names. Hence, as for instance among the Negroes,^ 
Abyssinians,^ and Australians,^ we often find a person's 
real name concealed, lest a knowledge of it should give 
a power over the person. 

The Chinooks of Columbia ' are averse to telling 
' their true names to strangers ; with them the name 
' assumes a personality ; it is the shadow or spirit, or 
' other self, of the flesh and blood person, and between 
' the name and the individual there is a mysterious con- 
' nection, and injury cannot be done to one without 
' afi'ecting the other ; therefore to give one's name to a 
' friend is a high mark of Chinook favour.' ^ 

^ See Apuleius; The Golden 284. 
Ass. Story of Pampliile= ^ Parkyns' Abyssinia, vol. ii. 

^ Eraser's Tour to the Himalas, p. 145. 
P- 530. 6 Prichard's Nat. Hist, of Man, 

2 M'Mahon. The Karens of the vol. ii. p. 492. 
Golden Chersonese, p. 91. 7 Bancroft's Native Races of the 

* Burton's Dahome, vol. ii. p. Pacific States, p. 245. 



CONFUSION OF PART AND WHOLE 249 

Even the Romiins, when they besieged a town, had 
a curious ceremony founded on the same idea. They 
invoked the tutelar deity of the city, and tempted him 
by the offer of rewards and sacrifices ' to betray his 
' friends and votaries. In that ceremony the name of 
' the tutelar deity was thought of importance, and for 
' that reason the tutelar deity of Rome was a profound 
' secret.' ^ Valerius Soranus is said to have been put to 
death for daring to divulge it.' ^ 

Many savage races at the present day consider for 
the same reason that it is very important to conceal 
their true name, and this is possibly one reason for the 
frequent practice of addressing one another by their 
relationship rather than by name. 

Sumatra gives us a curious instance of long survival 
of this idea in a somewhat advanced community. ' A 
Sumatran^ ever scrupulously abstains from pronounc- 
ing his own name ; not as I understand from any 
motive of superstition, but merely as a punctilio in 
manners. It occasions liim infinite embarrassment 
when a stranger unacquainted with their customs 
requires it of him.' 

Generally, however, it was considered indispensable 
that the sorcerer should possess ' something connected 
' with the body of the object of vengeance. The parings 
' of the nails, a lock of the hair, the saliva from the 
' mouth, or other secretions from the body, or else a 
' portion of the food which the person was to eat. This 
' was considered as the vehicle by which the demon 
' entered the person, who afterwards became possessed. 

^ Lord Karnes' History of Man, ^ Pli^J^ Bk. III. ch. ix. 

vol. iv. p. 226. Ortolan's Justinian, ^ Marsden's History of Sumatra, 

vol. i. p. 8. p. 286. 



250 SIMILARITY OF WITGHGBAFT 

' It was called the tubu, growing or causing to grow. 
' When procured, the tara was performed ; the sorcerer 
' took the hair, saliva, or other substance that had 
' belonged to his victim to his house, or marae, per- 
' formed his incantations over it, and offered his prayers ; 
' the demon was then supposed to enter the tubu, and 
^ through it the individual, who afterwards became 
' possessed.' ^ 

Speaking of New Zealand, Taylor ^ says that a ' per- 
^ son who wished to bewitch another sought to obtain 
' something belonging to him — a lock of hair, a portion 
^ of his garment, or even some of his food ; this being 
' possessed, he uttered certain karakias over it, and then 
' buried it ; as the article decayed, the individual also 
^ was supposed to waste away. This was sure to be 
' the case if the victim heard of it ; fear quickly ac- 
' complishing his enemy's wish. The person who be- 
' witched another remained three days without eating ; 
' on the fourth he ate, and his victim died.' 

So also Seeman ^ tells us that ' if a Fijian wishes 
' to cause the destruction of an individual by other 
' means than open violence or secret poison, the case is 
^ put in the hands of one of these sorcerers, care being 
' taken to let this fact be generally and widely known. 
' The sorcerer now proceeds to obtain any article that 
' has once been in the possession of the person to be 
' operated upon. These articles are then burnt with 
' certain leaves, and if the reputation of the sorcerer be 
' sufficiently powerful, in nine cases out of ten the 

^ Williams's Polynesian Re- land's Traditions of the New Zea- 

searclies, vol. ii. p. 228. landers, p. 117. 

^ New Zealand and its Inhabit- ^ A Mission to Viti, p. 189. 

ants, pp. 89, 167. See also Short- 



SIMILARITY OF WITGHOBAFT 251 

^ nervous fears of the individual to be punished will 

* bring on disease, if not death : a similar process is 
^ applied to discover thieves.' 

Mr. Turner gives a very similar account of disease- 
making as practised in Tanna.^ Sir G. Grey thus de- 
scribes a scene of witchcraft in New Zealand : ' The 

* priests ^ then dug a long pit termed the pit of wrath, 
' into which by their long enchantments they might 
' bring the spirits of their enemies, and hang them and 
^ destroy them there ; and when they had dug the pit, 
' muttering the necessary incantations, they took large 
' shells in their hands to scrape the spirits of their 
^ enemies into the pit with, whilst they muttered en- 
' chant m en ts ; and when they had done this they 
^ scraped the earth into the pit again to cover them uj), 
^ and beat down the earth with their hands, and crossed 
' the pit with enchanted cloths, and wove baskets of 
' flax-leaves to hold the spirits of the foes w^hich they 
' had thus destroyed, and -each of these acts they 
' accompanied wdth proper spells.' 

The Tasmanians ^ ' procured something belonging to 
' the unfortunate object of their wrath, wrapped it in 
' fat, placed it before the fire, and expected that as the 
' fat dissolved before the heat, so would the health of 
' the party decline.' 

So also among the Australians of the Lower Mur- 
ray,"^ ' Ever}^ adult black fellow is constantly on the 
' look-out for bones of ducks, swans, or other birds, or 
' of the fish called ponde, the flesh of which has been 



^ Nineteen Years in Polynesia, ^ Bonwick's Daily Life of the 

p. 90. Tasmanians, p. 178. 

~ Polynesian Mytholoo-y, p. 168. * Taplin. The Narrinyeri, p. 19. 



252 CHINESE MAGICIANS 

' eaten by anybody. Of these he constructs his charms. 
' All the natives, therefore, are careful to burn the bones 
' of the animals which they eat, so as to prevent their 
' enemies from getting hold of them ; but in spite of this 
' precaution, such bones are coaimonly obtained by 
^ disease-makers who want them. When a man has^ob- 
^ tained a bone — for instance, the leg-bone of a duck — 
^ he supposes that he possesses the power of life and death 
' over the man, woman, or child who ate its flesh.' 

In North America, also, ' a hair from the head of 
' the victim ' is supposed to increase greatly the efficacy 
of charms, and the same idea occurs at the Cape ; thus 
Livino^stone tells us ^ that amonff the Makololo ' when a 
' man has his hair cut, he is careful to burn it, or bury 
' it secretly, lest, falling into the hands of one who has 
' an evil eye, or is a witch, it should be used as a charm 
' to afflict him with headache ; ' indeed, no one can read a 
book of African travels without being struck by the great 
dread of witchcraft felt by the natives of that continent. 
Like our spirit- rappers and table-turners, the Chinese 
magicians,^ ' though they have never seen the person 
who consults them, tell his name, and all the circum- 
stances of his family ; in what manner his house is 
situated, how many children he has, their names and 
age ; with a hundred other particulars, which may be 
naturally enough supposed known to the demons, and 
are strangely surprising to weak and credulous minds 
among the vulgar. 

' Some of these conjurors, after invoking the demons, 
' cause the figures of the chief of their sect, and of their 

^ Expedition to the Zambesi, p. ^ Astley's Collection of Voyages," 

46. Shooter, Kaffirs of Natal, p. 255. vol. iv. p. 205. 



WIZARDS 253 

^ idols, to appear in the air. Formerly they could make 
' a pencil write of itself, without anybody touching it, 
' upon paper or sand, the answers to questions. They 
' likewise cause all people of any house to pass in review 
' in a large vessel of water ; wherein they also show the 
' changes that shall happen in the empire, and the ima- 
' ginary dignities to which those shall be advanced who 
' embrace their sect.' 

In all parts of India, says De Faira,^ ' there are pro- 
' digious wizards. When Yasco de Grama was sailing 
' upon that discovery, some of them at Kalekut showed 
' people, in basins of water, the three ships he had with 
' him.' 

We cannot wonder that savages believe in witch- 
craft, since even the most civilised races have not long, 
nor entirely, ceased to do so. 

Father Merolla,^ a Capuchin ' missioner,' tells quite 
gravely the following story. The army of Sogno having 
captured a neighbouring town, found in it a large cock 
with a ring of iron round one leg. This they killed, 
cut in pieces, and put into a pot to boil ; when, however, 
they thought to eat it, ' the boiled pieces of the cock, 
' though sodden, and near dissolved, began to move 
' about, and unite into the form they were in before, 
' and being so united, the restored cock immediately 
' raised himself up, and jumped out of the platter upon 
' the ground, where he walked about as well as when he 
' was first taken. Afterwards he leaped upon an ad- 
' joining wall, where he became new-feathered all of a 
' sudden, and then took his flight to a tree hard by, 

^ Quoted in Astley's Collection - Voyage to Congo, Pinkerton, 

of Voyages, vol. i. p. 63. vol. xv. x). 229. 



254 EUB0PEAN8' BELIEF IN WITCHGUAFT 

' where fixing himself, he, after three claps of his wings, 
' made a most hideous noise, and then disappeared.' 

To doubt the reality of witchcraft, says Lafitau,^ 
' est une Industrie des athees, et un efFet de cet esprit 
' d'irrehgion qui fait aujourd'hui des progres si sensibles 
' dans le monde, d'avoir detruit en quelque sorte dans 
Tidee de ceux memes qui se piquent d'avoir de la 
' religion, qu'il se trouve des hommes qui ayent com- 
' merce avec les demons par la voye des enchantemens 
' et de la magie.' 

Lafitau does not, indeed, deny that some wizards were 
impostors, but he maintains that ' ce seroit rendre le 
' monde trop sot, que de vouloir le supposer pendant 
' plusieurs siecles la dupe de quelques miserables joueurs 
' de gobelets.' 

Even among our recent missionaries some, according 
to Williams, believed that the Polynesian wizards really 
possessed supernatural powers, and were ' agents of the 
' infernal powers.' ^ Nay, Williams himself thought it 
' not impossible.' 

We may well be astonished that Europeans should 
believe in such things ; on the other hand, it is not sur- 
prising that savages should believe in witchcraft, nor 
even that the wizards should believe in themselves. 

We must indeed by no means suppose that sorcerers 
are always, or indeed generally, impostors. 

The Shamans of Siberia are, says Wrangel,^ by no 
means ' ordinary deceivers, but a psychological pheno- 
' menon, well deserving of attention. Whenever I have 
' seen them operate they have left me with a long-con- 

^ Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 374. p. 226. 

~ Polynesian Researclies, vol. ii. ^ Siberia, p. 124. 



SOBCEUEES NOT NECE8SABILY IMPOSTOBS 255 

'tinued and gloomy impression. The wild look, the 
' bloodshot eyes, the labouring breast and convulsive 
' utterance, the seemingly involuntary distortion of the 
' face and the whole body, the streaming hair, even the 
' hollow sound of the drum, all contributed to the effect ; 
' and I can well understand that the whole should 
^ appear to the uncivilised spectator as the work of evil 
' spirits.' 

Speaking of the Ahts, in North- West America, it is 
undoubtedly a fact, says Mr. Sproat,^ ' that many of 
Hhe sorcerers themselves thoroughly believe in their 
' own supernatural powers, and are able, in their pre- 
'parations and practices, to endure excessive fatigue, 
• want of food, and intense prolonged mental excite- 
' ment/ 

Dobritzhoffer concludes that the sorcerers of the 
Abipones ^ themselves ' imagine that they are gifted 
' with superior wisdom ; ' and Miiller also is convinced 
that they honestly believe in t^em selves.^ We should, 
says Martins,^ ' do them an injustice if we regarded 
' the Brazilian sorcerers as mere impostors,' though he 
adds, ' they do not scruple to cheat where they can.' 

Williams, also, who was by no means disposed to 
take a favourable view of the native sorcerers, admits 
that they believed in themselves, a fact which it is only 
fair to bear in mind.^ Turner also says the same of the 
sorcerers in Tanna.^ 

This self-deception was much facilitated by, if not 

^ Scenes and Studies of Savage Ur. Brasiliens, p. 30. 

Life, p. 170. ■' Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. 

'' Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 68. p. 226. 

^ Gesch. d. Amer. Urrelig. p. 80. '' Xiueteen Years in Polynesia, 

^ Von d. Rechtszus. unter den p. 91. 



256 FASTING 

mainly due to, the very general practice of fasting by 
those who aspired to the position of wizards. The 
Grreenlander, says Cranz,^ who would be an angekok, 
' must retire from all mankind for a while into some 
^ solitary recess or hermitage, must spend the time in 
'profound meditation, and call upon Torngarsuk to 
' send him a torngak. At length, by abandoning the 
' converse of men, by fasting and emaciating the body, 
' and by a strenuous intenseness of thought, the man's 
' imagination grows distracted, so that blended images 
' of men, beasts, and monsters appear before him. He 
' readily thinks these are real spirits, because his thoughts 
' are full of spirits, and this throws his body into great 
' irregularities and convulsions, which he labours to 
^ cherish and augment.' 

Among the North- American Indians,^ when a boy 
reaches maturity, he leaves home and absents himself 
for some days, during which he eats nothing, but lies 
on the ground thinking. When at length he falls asleep, 
the first animal about which he dreams is, he thinks, 
ordained to be his special protector through life.^ The 
dream itself he looks on as a revelation. Indeed, the 
Redskins fast before any great expedition, thinking that 
during their dreams they receive indications as to the 
course of action which they should pursue.'* Among 
the Cherokees also fasting is very prevalent, ' and an 
' abstinence of seven days renders the devotee famous.' ^ 
The Flatheads of Oregon have a very similar custom. 

1 History of Greenland, vol. i. 370. Pilchard's Nat. Hist, of Man, 
p, 210. vol. ii. p. 572. 

2 Catlin's North- .\merican In- ^ Carver's Travels, p. 285. 
dians, vol. i. p. 36. ^ Whipple's Report on Indian 

2 Lafitau, loc. cit. vol. i. pp. 267, Tribes, p. 36. 
290, 331, and especially pp. 336 and 



FASTING 257 

Here, however, a number of youths retire together. 
' They spend three days and nights in the performance 
' of these rites, without eating or drinking. By the 
' languor of the body and the high excitement of the 
' imagination produced during this time, their sleep 
' must be broken and visited by visions adapted to 
^ their views.' ^ These, therefore, they not unnaturally 
look on as the visits of spirits. 

Those who by continued fasts had thus purified 
and cleared their minds from gross ideas, were supposed 
to be capable of a clearer insight into the future than 
that which is accorded to ordinary men, and were called 
' Saiotkatta ' by the Hurons, and ' Agotsinnachen ' by 
the Iroquois, terms which mean literally ' seers.' ^ 

In Brazil, a young man who wished to be a paje 
went alone to some mountain, or to some lone place, and 
fasted for two years, after which he was admitted with 
certain ceremonies into the order of pajes.^ Among 
the Abipones * and Caribs ^ those who aspired to be 
' keebet ' proceeded in a similar manner. Among the 
South -American Indians of the Eio de la Plata the 
Medicine -men were prepared for their office by a long 
fast.^ Among the Lapps, also, would-be wizards pre- 
pare themselves by a strict fast."^ 

At first sight the introduction of ' dances ' may 
seem out of place here. Among savages, however, it is 
no mere amusement. It is, says Robertson,^ ' a serious 

^ Dunn's Oregon, p. 329. ^ Lafitau, vol. i. p. 335. 

2 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 371. '^ Klemm, Cult, der Mens. vol. 

^ Martius, Recht. unter d. Ur. iii. p. 85. 

Bras. p. 30. ^ Robertson's America, bk. iv. 

^ Dobritzhoffer, vol. ii. p. 67. p. 133. See also Schoolcraft, loc. cit. 

^ Du Tertre, Histor}^ of the vol. ii. p. 488, on the Sacred Dances 

Uaribby Islands, p. 342. of the Redskins. 



258 BELIGIOUS DANCES 

' and important occupation, which mingles in every 
' occurrence of public or private life. If any intercourse 
' be necessary between two American tribes the ambas- 
' sadors of the one approach in a solemn dance and 
' present the calumet or emblem of peace ; the sachems 
' of the other receive it with the same ceremony. If 
' war is denounced against an enemy, it is by a dance, 
' expressive of the resentment which they feel, and of 
' the vengeance which they meditate. If the wrath of 
^ their gods is to be appeased or their beneficence to be 
^ celebrated — if they rejoice at the birth of a child, or 
' mourn the death of a friend — they have dances appro - 
' priate to each of these situations, and suited to the 
' different sentiments with which they are then ani- 
' mated. If a person is indisposed a dance is prescribed 
^ as the most effectual means to restore him to health ; 
' and if he himself cannot endure the fatigue of such an 
' exercise, the physician or conjuror performs it in his 
' name, as if the virtue of his activity could be trans - 
^ ferred to his patient.' 

Among the Kols of Nagpore Colonel Dalton^ de- 
scribed several dances, which, he says, ' are all more or 
' less connected with some religious ceremony.' The 
Ostyaks also perform sacred sword dances in honour of 
their God Yelan.^ 

Fig. 18 represents a sacred dance as practised by the 
natives of Virginia. It is very interesting to see here 
a circle of upright stones, which, except that they are 
rudely carved at the upper end into the form of a head, 
exactly resemble our so-called Druidical temples. In 
Brazil, again, ' some of the tribes had no other worship 

1 Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. vi. p. 30. ^ Erman, vol. ii. p. 52. 



RELIGIOUS DANCES 



259 




s 2 



260 INTOXICATION AS A BJSLIGI0U8 BITE 



•> 1 



' than daneiiig'to the sound of very noisy instruments. 
Bonwick, speaking of the Tasmanians, tells us that 
^ among their superstitious rites dancing was con- 

* spicuous.' ^ 

The idea is by no means confined to mere savages. 
Even Socrates ^ regarded the dance as a part of religion, 
and David, we know, did so too.^ 

Dancing still takes place at the Breton ' Pardons,' 
and, says Jehan, ' H y a moins d'un siecle que Ton dansait 
' dans la chapelle meme pour honorer le saint du lieu.' ^ 

As sacrificial feasts so generally enter into religi- 
ous ceremonials, we need not wonder that smoking is 
throughout America closely connected with all religious 
ceremonies, just as incense is used for the same purpose 
in the Old World.6 

The Zulus, also, when sacrificing, burn incense, 
thinking that ' they are giving the spirits of their people 
^ a sweet savour.' "^ 

Among the Sonthals, one of the aboriginal tribes 
of India, the whole of their religious observances ' are 

* generally performed and attended to by the votaries 
' whilst in a state of intoxication ; a custom which re- 
^ minds us of the worship of Bacchus among the Greeks 
' and Romans.' ^ The Mandingoes, also, are said to 
intoxicate themselves under the belief that they thus 
acquire a sort of inspiration. 

^ Depons, Tr. in S. America, ^ 2 Sam. vi. 14, 22. 

vol. i. p. 198. See also Zeit. f. Eth- ^ La Bretagne, p. 856. 

nologie, 1870, p. 276. o Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 133. 

^ Daily Life of the Tasmanians, ' Callaway's Religious System of 

p. 186. the Amazulu, p. 141. 

3 Soc. apud Athen., lib. 14, ^ ^he People of India, by J. F. 

p. 628. Quoted in Lafitau, vol. i. Watson and J. W. Kaye, vol. i. 

p. 200. p. 1. 



261 



CHAPTER YIL 

RELIGION (^continued). 

I HAVE already observed that any rational classifica- 
tion of religions should be founded, not so much 
on the nature of the object worshipped as on the con- 
ception formed of the nature of the Deity. In support 
of this view I will now quote some illustrations to show 
how widely distributed is the worship of various mate- 
rial objects, and how much they are interwoven with 
one another. 

How ready savages are to^ deify any unfamiliar 
objects, is well shown in the following story from 
Lander's ' Niger Expedition.' 

In most African towns and villages, says Lander,^ 
' I was treated as a demigod.' He mentions that on 
one occasion, having landed at a village which white 
men had never visited before, his party caused great 
astonishment and terror. When at length they suc- 
ceeded in establishing a communication with the natives, 
the chief of the village gave the following account of 
what had taken place. ' A few minutes,' ^ he said, ' after 
' you first landed, one of my people came to me and 
' said that a number of strange jDCople had arrived at 
' the market-place. I sent him back again to get as 

^ R. and J. Lander's Niger Expedition, vol. iii. p. 198. 
- Loc. cit. Yol. iii. p. 78. 



262 DEIFICATION OF MEN 

' near to you as he could, to hear what you intended 
' doing. He soon after returned to me and said that 
' you spoke a language which he could not understand. 
' Not doubting it was your intention to attack my 
' village at night and carry off my people, I desired 
' them to get ready to fight. ... But when you came 
' to meet us unarmed, and we saw your white faces, we 
' were all so frightened that we could not pull our 
' bows, nor move hand or foot ; and when you drew 
' near me, and extended your hands towards me, I felt 
' my heart faint within me, and believed that you were 
' '' children of Heaven," and had dropped from the 
^ skies.' In the Andaman Islands the white men were 
regarded as spirits.^ In early Irish history also we are 
told that Fedelin and Ethne, daughters of Loegaire, took 
St. Patrick and his companions for spirits.^ 

Barth was identified by the Fulahs with their 
God ' Fete ; ' Thompson and Mofi'att were taken by the 
Bechuana women for deities, while Tuckey makes a 
similar statement as regards Congo, and according to 
Chapman, the Bushmen describe the white men as the 
children of God. A common Samoan prayer used to 
be, ' Drive away from us '' Sailing Gods," lest they bring 
disease and death.' ^ Among the natives of India the 
deification of men is still active.^ 

Among the Todas the ' Palal,' w^ho is neither a chief 
nor a priest, but whose special function it is to tend the 
sacred bufiPaloes, really considers himself a god during 
his term of ofiice ; though it is in his power to divest 
himself of his sacred character, and become a man again, 

1 Mam., J. Anthr. Inst., 1882, s Turner's Samoa, p. ix. 

p. 101. 4 Lyell, Fortnightly Review, 

2 Todd's St. Patrick, p. 452. Sept. 1875. 



ORIGIN OF ANIMAL-WOBSHIP 263 

if he can find anyone else who will consent to take his 
place. ^ 

The natives of the Lower Murray, as I have already 
mentioned, when oxen were first introduced, concluded 
they were demons, and fled in terror. They called 
them Wunda-Wityeri, ' beings with spears on their 
' heads.' ^ Another tribe, on the contrary, thought 
the pack- oxen were the wives, because they carried the 
baggage.^ Man}'- of the lower races, also, when they 
first came in contact with white men, took them for 
ghosts. 

The worship of animals is very prevalent among 
races of men in a somewhat higher stage of civilisation 
than that characterised by Fetichism. Plutarch, long 
ago, suggested that it arose from the custom of repre- 
senting animals upon standards ; and it is possible that 
some few cases may be due to this cause, though it is 
manifestly inapplicable to the majority, because, in the 
scale of human development, animal- worship much pre- 
cedes the use of standards, which, for instance, do not 
appear to have been used in the Trojan war.^ Diodorus 
explains it by the myth that the gods, being at one 
time hard pressed by the giants, concealed themselves 
for a while under the form of animals, which in con- 
sequence became sacred, and were worshipped by men. ' 

Another ancient suggestion was that the Egyptian 
chiefs wore helmets in the form of animals' heads, and 
that hence these animals were worshipped. This 
theory, however, will not apply generally, because 
the other races which worship animals do not use such 

^ Marshall's Todas, p. 136. ^ j^^-^, p, 53, 

'^ Taplin, The Narrinyeri, p. 3. * Goguet, loc. cit. toI. ii. 364. 



264 ANIMAL.W0B8HIP 

helmets, and even in Egypt there can be little doubt 
that the worship of animals preceded the use of 
helmets. 

Plutarch, as already mentioned, supposed that the 
crocodile was worshipped because, having no tongue, 
it was a type of the Deity, who makes laws for nature 
by his mere will ! This far-fetched explanation shows 
an entire misconception of savage nature. 

The worship of animals is, however, susceptible of 
a very simple explanation, and perhaps, as I have ven- 
tured to suggest,^ may have originated from the practice 
of naming, first mdividuals, and then their families, 
after particular animals. A family, for instance, which 
was called after the bear, would come to look on that 
animal first with interest, then with respect, and at 
length with a sort of awe. 

The habit of calling children after some animal or 
plant is very common, which amongst the lowest races 
might naturally be expected from the poverty of their 
language. The Issinese of Guinea named their chil- 
dren ' after some beast, tree, or fruit, according to their 
* fancy. Sometimes they call it after their fetich or 
' some white, who is a mingo, that is, friend to them.' ^ 

The Hottentots also generally named their children 
after some animal.^ In Congo ^ ' some form of food is 
' forbidden to everyone : in some it is a fish, in others 
' a bird, and so on. This is not, however, expressly 
' stated to be connected with the totem.' In Tasmania, 
according to Milligan, names of children are taken from 



1 Prehistoric Times, 1869, p. 598. ^ j^^-^ ^^i ^^^ ^ 357^ 

'^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, "^ Ibid. p. 2S2. 

vol. ii. p. 436. 



TEE KOBOXG—TEE TOTEM 265 

plants, animals, or other natural objects, and the same 
is the case among the hill tribes of India. 

The ' totem ' or sacred animal or jDlant was thus re- 
garded in some mysterious sense as the ancestral spirit, 
or soul of the family. 

In Southern Africa the Bechuanas are subdivided 
into men of the crocodile, men of the fish, of the mon- 
key, of the buffalo, of the elephant, porcupine, lion, 
vine, and so on. No one dares to eat the flesh or wear 
the skin of the animal to the tribe of which he belongs ; 
and although m this case the totems are not wor- 
shipped,^ each tribe has a superstitious dread of the 
animal after which it is named. 

In Madagascar ' the pretty species of lemur called 
' Babacoote is believed by the Betanimena tribe to be an 
' embodiment of the sj)irits of their ancestors, and there - 
' fore they look with horror upon killing them.' ^ 

In China, also, the name is frequently 'that of a 
' flower, animal, or such-like thing.' ^ In Australia we 
seem to find the totem, or, as it is there called, kobong, 
almost in the very moment of deification. Each family, 
says Sir G. Grey,^ ' adopts some animal or vegetable 
' as their crest qr sign, or kobong, as they call it. I 
' imagine it more likely that these have been named 
' after the families, than that the famihes have been 
' named after them.' This, however, does not seem to 
me at all probable. 

' A certain mysterious connection exists between 

^ The Basutos, Kev. E. Casalis, vol. iv. p. 91. 

p. 211. Livingstone's Travels in S. ^ Two Expeditions in Australia, 

Africa, p. 13. ' " vol. ii. p. 228. Taplin, The Nar- 

- Folk-Lore Record, vol. ii. p. 22. rinyeri, p. 1. 

■^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, 



266 T0TEMI8M IN AMERICA 

^ the family and its kobong, so that a member of the 
' family will never kill an animal of the species to which 
' his kobong belongs, should he find it asleep ; indeed, 
' he always kills it reluctantly, and never without afFord- 
' ing it a chance of escape. This arises from the family 
' belief that some one individual of the species is their 
' nearest friend, to kill whom would be a great crime, 
' and to be carefully avoided. Similarly, a native who 
^ has a vegetable for his kobong, may not gather it 
' under certain circumstances, and at a particular period 
' of the year.' ^ 

The Columbian Indians are divided into clans or 
' crests,' called after some animal, which must not be 
shot or ill-treated in the presence of anyone belonging 
to its ' crests,' or clan. 

Here we see a , certain feeling for the kobong or 
totem, though it does not amount to worship, and is 
apparently confined to certain districts.^ In America, 
on the other hand, it has developed into a veritable 
religion. 

The totem of the Redskins, says Schoolcraft,^ ' is a 
' symbol of the name of the progenitor — generally some 
' quadruped, or bird, or other object in the animal 
' kingdom, which stands, if we may so express it, as 
' the surname of the family. It is always some animated 
'object, and seldom or never derived from the inani- 
' mate class of nature. Its significant importance is 
' derived from the fact that individuals unhesitatingly 
' trace their lineage from it. By whatever names they 

^ Bancroft, N. E. of P. S., p. 202. ^ Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, 

2 Eyre, vol. ii. p. 328. See also vol. ii. p. 49. See also Lafitau, vol. 

Taplin, Jour. Anthr. Inst., vol. iv. i. pp. 464, 467. 

p. 53. 



TOTEMS IN INBIA AND POLYNESIA 267 

* may be called during their lifetime, it is the totem, 

* and not their personal name, that is recorded on the 
^ tomb, or adjedatig, that marks the place of burial. 
^ Families are thus traced when expanded into bands or 

* tribes, the multiplication of which, in North America, 

* has been very great, and has increased, in like ratio, 

* the labours of the ethnologist.' The Osages^ believe 
themselves to be descended from a beaver, and conse- 
quently will not kill that animal. In Peru, again, 
many of the Indian families believed themselves to be 
descended from animals.^ 

So, also, among the Khonds of India the different 
tribes ' take their designation from various animals, 
' as the bear tribe, owl tribe, deer tribe,' &c., &c.^ 
The Kols of Nagpore also are divided into ' keelis ' 
or clans, generally called after animals, which, in 
consequence, they do not eat. Thus the eel, hawk, 
and heron tribe abstain respectively from the flesh 
of these animals.^ The Oraons also are divided 
into tribes, usually named after some animal or plant, 
which is not eaten by the tribe after which it is 
named. ^ 

Among the Samoans, ' one saw his god in the eel, 
another in the shark, another in the turtle, another in 
the dog, another in the owl, another in the lizard, and 
so on. ... A man would eat freely of what was 
regarded as the incarnation of the god of another 
man, but the incarnation of his own particular god he 

1 Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 320. ^ Dalton, Trans, Ethn. Soc, N.S., 

^ Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. i. vol. vi. p. 36. 
p. 75. -^ Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 

" Early Eaces of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 254. See also Campbell's Wild 

p. 495. Tribes of Khondistan, p. 26. 



268 SEBPMNT.WOBSHIP 

'would consider it death to injure or to eat.' ^ In 
Northern Asia, among the Yakuts, 'each tribe looks 
' on some j^articular animal as sacred, and abstains 
' from eating it.' ^ 

If, moreover, we bear in mind that the deity of a 
savage is merely a being of a slightly different nature 
from — though generally somewhat more powerful than 
— himself, we shall at once see that many animals, such 
as the bear or elephant, fulfil in a great measure his 
conception of a deity. 

This is still more completely the case with nocturnal 
animals, such as the lion and tiger, where the effect is 
heightened by a certain amount of mystery. As the 
savage, crouching at night by his camp-fire, listens to 
the cries and roars of the animals prowling about, or 
watches them stealing like shadows round and round 
among the trees, what wonder if he weaves mysterious 
stories about them ? And if in his estimate of animals 
he errs in one direction, we perhaps have fallen into the 
opposite extreme. 

As an object of worship, however, the serpent is 
pre-eminent among animals.^ Not only is it malevolent 
and mysterious, but its bite — so trifling in appearance 
and yet so deadly, producing fatal effects rapidly, and 
apparently by no adequate means — suggests to the 
savage almost irresistibly the notion of something 
divine according to his notions of divinity. There were 
also some lower, but powerful, considerations which 
tended greatly to the development of serpent- worship. 



^ Turner's Nineteen Years in p. 364. ; 

Polynesia, p. 238. ^ Deane's Worship of the Serpent 

^ Latham, Des. Ethnol., vol. i. traced throughout the World. 



SEEPENT-WOBSEIP 269 

The animal is long-lived and easily kept in captivity ; 
hence the same individual might be preserved for a long 
time, and easily exhibited at intervals to the multitude. 
In other respects the serpent is a convenient god. Thus 
in Guinea, where the sea and the serpent were the prin- 
cipal deities, the priests, as Bosman expressly tells us, 
encouraged offerings to the serpent rather than to the 
sea, because, in the latter case, 'there happens no 
' remainder to be left for them.' ^ 

Mr. Fergusson, in his work on Tree and Serpent- 
worship, has suggested that the beauty of the serpent, 
or the brilliancy of its eye, had a part among the 
causes of its original deification. I cannot, Jiowever, 
agree with him in this. Nor do I believe that serpent- 
worship is to be traced up to any common local origin ; 
but, on the contrary, that it sprang up spontaneously in 
many places, and at very different times. In considering 
the wide distribution of serpent- worship, we must re- 
member that in the case of the serpent we apply one 
liame to a whole order of animals ; and that serpents 
occur all over the world, except in very cold regions. 
On the contrary, the lion, the bear, the bull, have less 
extensive areas, and consequently their worship could 
never be so general. If, however, we compare, as we 
ought, serpent- worship with quadruped- worship, or 
bird-worship, or sun-worship, we shall find that it has 
no exceptionally wide area. 

Mr. Fergusson, like previous writers, is surprised to 
find that the serpent-god is frequently regarded as a 
beneficent being. Mtiller, in his Scientific MythoJogy, 
has endeavoured to account for this by the statement 

^ Pinkerton, vol. x\i. p. 500. 



270 ASIA— AFRICA 

that the serpent typified not only barren, impure 
nature, but also youth and health. This is not, I 
think, the true explanation. It may be that the serpent- 
god commenced as a malevolent being, who was flat- 
tered, as cruel rulers always are, and that, in process of 
time, this flattery, which was at first the mere expres- 
sion of fear, came to be an article of faith. If, how- 
ever, the totemic origin of serpent -worship, as above 
suggested, be the correct one, the serpent, like other 
totemic deities, would, from its origin, have a bene- 
volent character. 

As mentioned in Mr. Fergusson's work, the serpent 
was worshipped anciently in Egypt,^ in India,^ Phoe- 
nicia,^ Babylonia,^ Grreece,^ as well as in Italy,^ where, 
however, it seems not to have prevailed much. Among 
the Lithuanians ' every family entertained a real serpent 
' as a household god.' '^ 

Passing on to those cases in which the serpent is 
even now worshipped, or was so until lately, we find in 
Asia evidence of serpent- worship, in Persia,^ Cashmere,^ 
Cambodia, Thibet,^^ India,^^ China ( traces ),^^ Ceylon,^^ 

1 Herodotus, Euterpe, 74. vol. iv. p. 193. Deane, loc. cit. 

2 TertuUian, De Prescript. Here- p. 246. 

ticorum, c. xlvii. Epiphanius, lib. ^ Mogruil, 166. W^indischmann, 

1 Heres. xxxvii. p. 267, et seq. 37. Shah Nameh, Atkinson's trans- 

^ Eusebius, Free. Evan., vol. i. lation, p. 14. 

p. 9. Maurice Ind. Antiq., vol. vi. ^ Asiatic Res., vol. xv. pp. 24, 25. 

p. 273. Ayeen Akbaree, Gladwin's trans., 

* Bel and Dragon, v. 23. p. 137. 

•^ Pausanias, vol. ii. pp. 187, 176. ^° Hiouen-Thsang, vol. i. p. 4. 

^lian, De Animal., xvi. 39. Hero- " Fergusson's Tree and Serpent 

dotus, viii. 41. Worship, p. 56. 

« ^Elian, Var. Hist., ix. p. 16. ^^ j^^-^ p 5^ 

Propertius, Eleg. viii. p. 4. Deane, ^^ History and Doctrine of Budd- 

loc. cit. p. 253. bism in Ceylon, Upham. 

"^ Lord Karnes' History of Man, 



GUINiJA—WHYDAH 271 

and among the Kalmucks.^ In Africa the serpent was 
worshipped in some parts of Upper Egypt, ^ and in 
Abyssinia.^ Among the negroes on the Guinea Coast 
it used to be the principal deity/' Smith, in his voyage 
to Guinea,^ says that the natives ' are all pagans, and 
' worship three sorts of deities. The first is a large, 
' beautiful kind of snake, which is inoffensive in its 
' nature. These are kept in fittish-houses, or churches, 
' built for that purpose in a grove, to whom they 
' sacrifice great store of hogs, sheep, fowls, and goats, 
' &c., and if not devoured by the snake, are sure to be 
' taken care of by the fetishmen or pagan priests.' From 
Liberia to Benguela, if not farther, the serpent is the 
principal deity,^ and, as elsewhere, is regarded as being 
on the whole beneficent. To it the natives resort in 
times of drought and sickness, or other calamities. No 
negro would intentionally injure a serpent, and anyone 
doing so by accident would assuredly be put to death. 
All over the country are small huts, built on purpose 
for the snakes,^ which are attended and fed by old 
women. These snakes are frequently consulted as 
oracles. 

In addition to those small huts were temples, which, 
judged by a negro standard, were of considerable mag- 
nificence,^ with large courts, spacious apartments, and 

1 Klemm, Cult, der Mens., vol. 489 ; Burton, vol. ii. p. 139 ; Smith, 

iii. p. 202. loc. cit. p. 195 ; Burton's Dahome, 

^ Pococke, Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. i. p. 94. 

vol. XV. p. 269. ^ Smith's Voyage to Guinea, 

^ Dillmann in Zeitsch. der Mor- p. 195. See also Bosman, Pinkerton's 

genlandischen Gesells., vol. vii. p. Voyages, vol. xvi. p. 184, et seq. 

338. Ludolf. Comment, vol. iii. '^ Bosman, loc. cit. pp. 494-499. 

p. 284 ; Bruee's Travels, vol. iv. Smith, loc. cit. p. 195. 

p. 35. "^ Astley, loc. cit. pp. 27, 32. 

^ Astley 's Voyages, vol. iii. p. ^ Ihid. p. 29. 



272 



AGOYE, TSE FETICH OF WEYDAR 



numerous attendants. Each of these temples had a 
special snake. That of Whydah was supposed to have 



Fig. 19 




AGOTE, AN IDOL OF WHTBAH. (Astley's Collection of Voyages.) 



appeared to the army during an attack on Ardra. It 
was regarded as a presage of victory, which so encour- 



KAFFBABIA—MADA GA8GAB 273 

aged tlae soldiers that they were perfectly successful. 
Hence this fetich was reverenced beyond all others, 
and an annual pilgrimage was made to its temple with 
much ceremony. It is rather suspicious that any young 
women who may be ill are taken off to the snake's house 
to be cured. For this questionable service the attend- 
ants charge a high price to the parents. 

It is observable that the harmless snakes only are 
thus worshipped. ' Agoye,' the fetich of Whydah 
which has serpents and lizards coming out of its head ^ 
(fig. 19), presents a remarkable similarity to some of 
the Hindoo idols. By the 12th article of a treaty made 
so recently as 1856 by the British consul for Biafra and 
Fernando Po, British subjects are expressly forbidden 
to kill or injure a certain species of snake which is held 
sacred by the nation. 

Snakes, says Schweinfurth, ' are the only creatures 
* to which either Dinka or Shillooks (Upper Nile Re- 
^ gion) pay any sort of reverence.' ^ 

The Kaffirs of South Africa have a general belief 
that the spirits of their ancestors appear to them in the 
form of serpents.^ 

Ellis mentions that in Madagascar the natives re- 
gard serpents ' with a sort of superstition.'^ 

In Fiji, ' the god ^ most generally known is 
' Ndengei, who seems to be an impersonation of the 
^ abstract idea of eternal existence. He is the subject 

^ Astley, loc. cit. vol. iii. p. 50. Livingstone's Exp. to the Zambesi, 

'^ Heart of Africa, vol. i. p. 158. p. 46. 

^ Casalis' Basutos, p. 246. Chap- ^ Three Visits to Madagascar, 

man's Travels, vol. i. p. 195. Oal- p. 143. 

laway's Religious System of the ^ Fiji and the Tijians, vol. ii. 

Araazulu. Arboiisset, loc. cit. p. 138. p. 217. 



274 POLYNESIA—AMEBICA 

' of no emotion or sensation, nor any appetite except 
' hunger. The serpent — the world-wide symbol of 
' eternity — is his adopted shrine. Some traditions re- 
' present him with the head and part of the body of 
' that reptile, the rest of his form being stone, emblem- 
' atic of everlasting and unchangeable duration. He 
^ passes a monotonous existence in a gloomy cavern ; 
' evincing no interest in anyone but his attendant, Uto, 
^ and giving no signs of life beyond eating, answering 
' his priest, and changing his position from one side to 
' the other.' 

In the Friendly Islands the water snake was much 
respected.^ 

In America serpents were worshipped by the Aztecs,^ 
Peruvians,^ Natchez,^ Caribs,^ Monitarris,^ Mandans,^ 
Tatur,^ Pueblo Indians,^ &c. 

Alvarez, during his attempt to reach Peru from 
Paraguay, is reported ^^ to have seen the ' temple and 
' residence of a monstrous serpent, whom the inhabit- 
* ants had chosen for their divinity, and fed with human 
' flesh. He was as thick as an ox, and seven-and-twenty 
' feet long, with a very large head, and very fierce 
^ though small eyes. His jaws, when extended, dis- 
^ played two ranks of crooked fangs. The whole body, 
^ except the tail, which was smooth, was covered with 



Mariner, vol. ii. p. 106. ^ Ibid. p. 221. 

Squier's Serpent SymlDol in ^ Klemm, vol. ii. p. 162. 



America, p. 162. Gama, Descripcion ^ Ibid. p. 163. 

Historica y Cronologica de las Pe- 8 Power's Amer, Ethn., vol. iii. 

dras de Mexico, 1882, p. 39 ; Bernal p. 144. 

Diaz, p. 125. 9 Molhausen, Tour to the Pacific, 

^ Miiller, Ges. d. Amer. Urreligi- vol. i. p. 264. 
onen, p. 366. Garcilasso de la Vega, lo Charlevoix's History of Para- 

vol. i. p. 48. guay, vol. i. p. 110. 

* Ibid. p. 62. 



TEi: WOBSEIP OF OTHBB ANIMALS 'lib 

* round scales of a great thickness. The Spaniards, 
' though they could not be persuaded by the Indians 
' that this monster delivered oracles, were exceed- 
' ingly terrified at the first sight of him ; and their 
' terror was greatly increased when, on one of them 
' having fired a blunderbuss at him, he gave a roar 
' like that of a lion, and with a stroke of his tail shook 
' the whole tower.' 

The worship of serpents being so widely distributed, 
and presenting so many similar features, we cannot 
wonder that it has been regarded as something special 
that attempts have been made to trace it up to one 
source, and that it has been regarded by some as the 
primitive religion of man. 

I will now, how^ever, proceed to mention other cases 
of zoolatry. 

Animal worship w^as very prevalent in America.^ 
The Redskins reverenced the bear,^ the bison, the hare,^ 
and the wolf,^ and some species of birds.^ The jaguar 
was worshipped in some parts of Brazil, and especially 
in La Plata.^ In South America birds and jaguars 
seem to have been the specially sacred animals. The 
owl in Mexico was regarded as an evil spirit ; ^ in South 
America toads,^ eagles, and goatsuckers were much ven- 
erated.^ The Abipones^^ think that certain little ducks 
' which fly about at night uttering a mournful hiss, are 
^ the souls of the departed.' 

^ Miiller, Am. TJrr., p. 60, et seq. ^ Prescott, -vol. i. p. 48. 

~ Ibid. p. 61. 8 Depons, Tr. in South America, 

'■" Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 316. vol. i. p. 198. 
4 Mhller, loc. cit. p. 257. ^ Muller, Amer. Urr., p. 237. 

•' Ibid. p. 134. Klemm, loc. cit. ^^ Dobritzhoffer, Hist, of the 

vol. ii. p. 164. Abipones, vol. ii. p. 74. 



« Miiller, loc. cit, p. 2m. 



T 2 



25^6 POLYNESIA 

In Yucatan it was customary to leave an infant 
alone in a place sprinkled with ashes. Next morning 
the ashes were examined, and if the footprints of any 
animal were found on them it was chosen as the deity 
of the infant/ 

The semi- civilised races of Mexico^ and Peru were 
more advanced in their religious conceptions. In the 
latter the sun was the great deity.^ Yet in Peru,^ 
even at the time of the conquest, many species of 
animals were still much reverenced, including the fox, 
dog, llama, condor, eagle, and puma, besides the serpent, 
and various species of fish- From these animals the 
various families of Indians were considered to be 
descended,^ and each species was supposed to have a 
representative, or archetype, in heaven.^ In Mexico a 
similar feeling prevailed, but neither here nor in Peru 
can it truly be said that animals at the time of the con- 
quest were nationally regarded as actual deities. 

The Polynesians, also, had generally advanced be- 
yond the stage of totemism. The heavenly bodies were 
not worshipped, and when animals were regarded with 
veneration, it was rather as representatives of the deities 
than with the idea that they were really deities. Still, 
the Tahitians ^ had a superstitious reverence for various 
kinds of fish and birds, such as the heron, kingfisher, 
and woodpecker ; the latter apparently because they 
frequented the temples. 

^ De Brosses, Du Oulte des ^ Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. i. 

Dieux Feticlies, p. 46. p. 75. 

2 MuUer, loc. cit. p. 481. e p^^scott's History of Peru, 

3 Prescott's History of Peru, p. 87. Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. i. 
p. 88. p. 176. 

* Miiller, p. 366. Garcilasso de 7 Polynesian Kesearclies, vol. ii. 

la Vega, vol. i. pp. 47, 168. p. 203. 



NBW ZEALAND— POLYNESIA . 277 

In the Dnke of York group the population was 
divided into two clans, each called after an insect, and 
they will on no account injure the insect after which 
they are named. 

The Sandwich Islanders^ seem to have regarded the 
raven as sacred,^ and the New Zealanders, according to 
Forster, regarded a species of tree creeper as the ' bird 
' of the divinity.' ^ The Tongans considered that the 
deities ' sometimes come into the living bodies of lizards, 
' porpoises, and a species of water snake ; hence these 
' animals are much respected.'* At Tukopia the shark 
was regarded as a divinity.^ The Kingsmill Islanders 
also worshipped certain kinds of fish.^ 

The Bishop of Wellington informs us that ' spiders 
' were special objects of reverence to Maoris ; and, as the 
' priests further told them that the souls of the faithful 
^ went to heaven on gossamer threads, they were very 
' careful not to break any spiders' webs, or gossamers. 
' Lizards were also supposed to be chosen by the Maori 
' gods as favourite abodes.' ^ Moembe, a chief of 
Yanikoro, regarded a crab as his Atua.^ 

The Hervey Islanders worshipped various animals 
as messengers or incarnations of the gods.^ 

In the Fiji Islands,^^ besides the serpent, ' certain 
' birds, fish, and plants, and some men, are supposed to 
' have deities closely connected with or residing in 

^ Cook's Third Voyage, vol. iii. Exp. p. 97. 

p. 160. 7 Trans. Ethn. Soc, 1870, p. 367. 

2 Cook's Voyage to the Pacific, « Rev. d'Anthrop., 1376, p. 267. 

vol. iii, p. 161. 9 Gill, Myths of the South Paci- 

^ Voyage round the World, vol. i. fie, p. 20. 

p. 519. ^0 Williams's Fiji and the Fijians, 

* Mariner, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 106. vol. i. p. 219. Seemann, Mission to 

•' Rev. d'Anthrop., 1876, p. 268. Viti, p. 392. 

" Hale, Ethn. of the U. S. Expl. 



278 SIBERIA— GEINA—INBIA 

' them. At Lakemba, Tui Lakemba, and on Vanua 
' Levu, Ravuravu, claim the hawk as their abode ; 
' Yiavia, and other gods, the shark. One is supposed to 
' inhabit the eel, and another the common fowl, and so 
' on, until nearly every animal becomes the shrine of 
' some deity. He who worships the god dwelling in 
' the eel must never eat of that fish, and thus of the 
^ rest ; so that some are tabu from eating human flesh, 
' because the shrine of their god is a man.' The 
octopus was worshipped in the Penrhyn Islands, the 
bat in Samoa, and elsewhere the tree- crab, the centi- 
pede, and other animals. 

In Siberia Erman mentions that ' the Polar bear, as 
' the strongest of God's creatures, and that which seems 
' to come nearest to the human being, is as much vene- 
' rated by the Samoyedes as his black congener by the 
' Ostyaks. They even swear by the throat of this 
' strong animal, whom they kill and eat ; but when it is 
^ once killed, they show their respect for it in various 
' ways.' ^ 

Each tribe of the Jakuts ' look on some particular 
' creature as sacred, e.g. a swan, goose, raven, &c., and 
' such is not eaten by that tribe, though the others may 
' eat it.' ^ The same feeling extends even to plants ; and 
in China, when the sacred apricot tree is broken to 
make the spirit-pen, it is customary to write an apology 
on the bark.^ 

The Hindus, says Dubois,'* ' in all things extrava- 
' gant, pay honour and worship, less or more solemn, to 
' almost every living creature, whether quadruped, bird, 

^ Erman, vol. ii. p. 55. Miiller, - StraMenberg, p. 383. 

Des. de toutes les Nat. de I'Emp. 3 Tjlor, Roy. Inst. Journ., vol. v. 

Russe, pt. i. p. 107. p. 527. ^ Loe. cit. p. 445. 



CEYLON— THE PHILIPPINES— AFRICA 279 

^ or reptile.' The cow, the ape, the eagle (known as 
garuda), and the serpent, receive the highest honours ; 
but the tiger, elephant, horse, stag, sheep, hog, dog, cat, 
rat, peacock, cock, chameleon, lizard, tortoise, fish, and 
even insects, have been made objects of worship. The 
ox is held especially sacred throughout most of India 
and Ceylon. Among the Todas ^ the ' buffaloes and bell 
' are fused into an incomprehensible mystic whole, or 
^ unity, and constitute their prime object of adoration 
' and worship.' . . . . ' Towards evening the herd is 
' driven back to the tuel, when such of the male and 
' female members of the family as are present assemble, 
' and make obeisance to the animals.' 

Dr. Anderson found the worship of the horse and 
the snake interwoven with the Buddhism of the Shans 
of West Yunan.'^ The goose is worshipped in Ceylon,^ 
and the alligator in the Philippines. The ancient 
Egyptians were greatly addicted to animal -worship, 
and even now Sir S. Baker states that on the White 
Nile the natives will not eat the ox.^ The common 
fowl also is connected with superstitious ceremonies 
among the Obbo and other Mle tribes.^ ' The tiger,' 
says Dalziel, ' is the Fetish of Dahomy.' ^ The King 
of Ardra, on the Guinea Coast, had certain black 
birds for his fetiches,^ and the negroes of Benin also 
reverence several kinds of birds. The negroes of 
Guinea regard ^ ' the sword-fish and the bonito as 

1 Trans. Ethn. Soc.,N.S., vol. vii. ■^ Albert N'yanza, vol. i. p. 69. 

pp. 250, 253. See also Ethn. Journ., ^ Baker, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 327. 

1869, p. 97. 6 Hist, of Dahomy, p. vi. 

^ Expedition to Western Yunan "^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, 

via Bhamo, p. 115. vol. iii. pp. 72, 99. 

^ Tennent's Ceylon, vol. i. p. ^ Astley, vol. ii. p. 667. Bur- 

484. ton's Daliome, vol. ii. pp. 145, 148. 



280 MABAGASGAB—BUBOTE 

' deities, and such is their veneration for them that 
' they never catch either sort designedly. If a sword- 
' fish happen to be taken by chance, they will not 
' eat it till the sword be cut ofi", which, when dried, 
' they regard as 2,fetisso^ They also regard the croco- 
dile as a deity. On the Guinea Coast, says Bosnian, ' a 
' great part of the negroes believe that man was made 
^ by Anansie : that is, a great spider.' ^ In South Africa 
the Malekutus and some Baperis worship the porcupine, 
while other Baperis regard a monkey as their tutelary 
deity.^ 

In Madagascar, Ellis ^ tells us that the natives regard 
crocodiles ' as possessed of supernatural power, invoke 
' their forbearance with prayers, or seek protection by 
' charms, rather than attack them ; even the shaking of 
' a spear over the waters would be regarded as an act 
' of sacrilegious insult to the sovereign of the flood, 
' imperilling the life of the offender the next time he 
' should venture on the water.' 

The nations of Southern Europe had for the most 
part advanced beyond animal -worship even in the 
earliest historical times. The extraordinary sanctity 
attributed, in the Twelfth Odyssey, to the oxen of the 
sun, stands almost alone in Greek mythology, and is 
regarded by Mr. Gladstone as of Phoenician origin. It 
is true that the horse is spoken of with mysterious 
respect, and that deities on several occasions assumed 
the form of birds ; but this does not amount to actual 
worship. 



^ PinkertoD, loc. cit. vol. xvi. ^ Three Visits to Madagascar, 

P- 306. p. 297. See also Sibree, loc. cit. 

~ Arbousset, loc. cit. p. 176. p. 193. 



AMERICA 281 

The deification of animals explains probably the 
curious fact that various savage races habitually apolo- 
gise to the animals which they kill in the chase ; thus, 
the Vogulitzi^ of Siberia, when they have killed a bear, 
address it formally, and maintain ' that the blame is to 
' be laid on the arrows and iron, which were made and 
' forged by the Russians.' The same custom exists 
among the Ostyaks,^ the Samoyedes,^ and the Ainos of 
Yesso.^ Schoolcraft^ mentions a case of an Indian on 
the shores of Lake Superior begging pardon of a bear 
which he had shot. Dr. Rae states that all the Northern 
Americans treat with great respect any bear they may 
kill, apologising to it, and regretting the disagreeable 
necessity under which they found themselves. 

Before engaging in a hunt the Chippeways have a 
^ medicine ' dance in order to propitiate the spirits of 
the bears or other game.^ The Sioux, Minnitarees, 
and Mandans had a very similar custom. So also in 
British Columbia,^ when the fishing season commenced, 
and the fish began coming up the rivers, the Indians 
used to meet them, and ' speak to them. They paid 
' court to them, and would address them thus : " You 
' "fish, you fish ; you are all chiefs, you are ; you are 
' " all chiefs." ' 

Among the Northas, when a bear is killed it is 
dressed in a bonnet, covered with fine down, and 
solemnly invited into the chiefs presence.^ 

^ Stralilenberg's Voyage to Si- ^ Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, 

beria, p. 97. vol. iii. p. 229. 

^ Voyages, vol. iv. p. 85. ^ Catlin's Amer. Tnd., vol. ii. 

^ De Brosses, Dieux Fetiches, p. 248. 

p. 61. 7 Metlahkatlah, p. 96. 

* Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. iv. ^ Bancroft, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 187. 
p. 36. 



282 THE CUSTOM OF APOLOGISING 

The Koussa Kaffirs^ had a very sunilar custom. 
Before a party goes out huntmg, a very odd ceremony 
or sport takes place, which they consider as absolutely 
necessary to ensure success to the undertaking. One 
of them takes a handful of grass into his mouth, and 
crawls about upon all-fours to represent some sort of 
game. The rest advance as if they would run him 
through with their spears, raising the hunting cry, till 
at length he falls upon the ground as if dead. If this 
man afterwards kills a head of game, he hangs a claw 
upon his arm as a trophy, but the animal must be 
shared with the rest.' ^ Lichtenstein also mentions that 
if an elephant is killed, they seek to exculpate them- 
selves towards the dead animal, by declaring to him 
solemnly that the thmg happened entirely by accident, 
not by design.' ^ To make the apology more complete, 
they cut off the trunk and bury it carefully with much 
flattery. 

The inhabitants living in the neighbourhood of Lake 
Itasy are accustomed to make a yearly proclamation to 
the crocodiles, warning them that they will revenge the 
death of any of their friends ' by killing as many vaay 
' in return, and warning the well-disposed crocodiles to 
' keep out of the way, as they have no quarrel with 
' them, but only with the evil-minded reptiles who 
' have taken human life.' ^ 

Speaking of a Mandingo who had killed a lion. Gray 
says : ^ 'As I was not a little surprised at seeing the 
' man, who I conceived ought to be rewarded for 

^ Lichtenstein's Travels, vol. i. p. 254. 

p. 269. Shooter, the Kaffirs of ^ j^qIj^ Lore Record, vol. ii. p. 21. 
Natal, p. 215. 4 Qray's Travels in V^^estern 

^ Lichtenstein's Travels, vol. i. Africa, p. 143. 



TO ANIMALS FOB KILLING THEM 283 

* having first so disabled the animal as to prevent it 

* from attacking us, thus treated, I requested an ex- 

* planation ; and was informed that, being a subject 
' only, he was guilty of a great crime in killing or 
' shooting a sovereign, and must suffer this punishment 
'until released by the chiefs of the village, who, know- 
' ing the deceased to have been their enemy, would not 
' only do so immediately, but commend the man for his 
' good conduct.' 

The Steins of Cambodia ^ believe that ' animals also 
' have souls which wander about after their death ; thus 

* when they have killed one, fearing lest its soul should 
^ come and torment them, they ask pardon for the evil 

* they have done to it, and offer sacrifices proportioned 

* to the strength and size of the animal.' 

The Sumatrans speak of tigers^ with a degree of 
" awe, and hesitate to call them by their common name 
' (rimaa or machang), terming them respectfully satwa 
' (the wild animals), or even nenek (ancestors) ; as 
' really believing them such, or by way of soothing and 

* coaxing them. When an European procures traps to 

* be set, by means of persons less superstitious, the in- 
' habitants of the neighbourhood have been known to 
' go at night to the place, and practise some forms, in 
' order to persuade the animals that it was not laid by 
' them, or with their consent.' 

The deification of inanimate objects seems at first 
somewhat more difiicult to understand than that of 
animals. The names of individuals, however, would be 



^ Mouhot's Travels in the Cen- ^ Marsden's Hist, of Sumatra, 

tral Parts of Indo-China, vol. i. p. 292. See also Depons, Travels in 
p. 252. S. America, vol. i. p. 199. 



284 SAVAGE TENDENCY TO BEIFIGATION 

taken not only from animals, but also from inanimate 
objects, and would tbus, as suggested at p. 266, lead to 
the worship of the latter as well as of the former. Some, 
moreover, are singularly lifelike. No one, I think, can 
wonder that rivers should have been regarded as living. 
The constant movement, the ripples and eddies on their 
surface, the vibrations of the reeds and other water 
plants, the murmuring and gurgling sounds, the clear- 
ness and transparency of the water, combine to produce 
a singular effect on the mind even of civilised man. 

Seneca long ago observed, that ' if you walk in a 
' grove, thick planted with ancient trees of unusual 
^ growth, the interwoven boughs of which exclude the 
' light of heaven ; the vast height of the wood, the 
' retired secrecy of the place, the deep unbroken gloom 
' of shade, impress your mind with the conviction of a 
' present deity.' 

The savage also is susceptible to such influences, and 
is naturally prone to personify not only rivers but also 
other inanimate objects. 

Who can wonder at the worship of the sun, moon, 
and stars, which has been regarded as a special form of 
religion, and is known as Sabseism ? It does not, how- 
ever, in its original form, essentially differ from moun- 
tain or river- worship. To us, with our knowledge of 
astronomy, sun-worship naturally seems a more sub- 
lime form of religion, but we must remember that the 
lower races who worship the heavenly bodies have no 
idea of their distance nor, consequently, of their mag- 
nitude. Nay, the very distance and magnitude of the 
sun, combined with the regularity of its course, rendered 
it the less likely to be selected by the lowest races of 



SAVAGE TENDENCY TO DEIFICATION 285 

men as an object of worship. Religion is not with them 
a deep feeling of the soul, but a profound fear of 
some immediate evil, a desire for some immediate good. 
Hence the savage worships something which is close to 
him, something which he can see and hear ; and the law- 
less, turbulent action of the sea gives him more the 
impression of life and energy than the regular and 
stately movements of the heavenly bodies. Even when 
these are worshipped, it is in entire ignorance of their 
real magnitude and grandeur. The people of Chincha, 
in Peru, worshipped the sea rather than the sun, ' which 
^ did them no good at all, but rather annoyed them by 
' its excessive heat.' ^ Hence the curious ideas with 
reference to eclipses which I have already mentioned 
(p. 236). Again, in illustration of the sanae fact, the 
New Zealanders believed that Mawe, their ancestor, 
caught the sun in a noose, and wounded it so severely 
that its movements have been slower, and the days con- 
sequently longer, ever since.^ According to another 
account, Mawe ' tied a string to the sun and fastened 
^ it to the moon, that as the former went down, the 
' other, being pulled after it by the superior power of 
' the sun, may rise and give light during his absence.' ^ 
A very similar story also occurs in Samoa ^ 

Even the Greeks were disposed to regard the earth 
as a living entity. 

^ The name of Earth,' says Plutarch,^ ' is dear to all, 
' and to the Greek even venerable ; and with us it is the 



^ Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. i. ^ Turner's Nineteen Years in 

p. 149. Polynesia, p. 248. 

" Polynesian Mythology, p. 35. ^ Plutarch's Morals. 

3 Yate, loc. cit. p. 143. 



286 DEITIES NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SUPERNATURAL 

' hereditary rule to worship her in the same way as any 
' other Deity. We men are far from thinking the moon, 
' which is a celestial earth, to be a body without life, and 
' without mind, and destitute of those things which the 
' Gods have a right to enjoy.' 

We must always bear in mind that the savage 
notion of a deity is essentially different from that enter- 
tained by higher races. Instead of being supernatural, 
he is merely a part of nature. This goes far to explain 
the tendency to deification which at first seems so 
strange. 

A good illustration, and one which shows how 
easily deities are created by men in this frame of mind, 
is mentioned by Lichtenstein. The king of the Roussa 
Kaffirs having broken off", a piece of a stranded anchor, 
died soon afterwards, upon which all the Kaffirs looked 
upon the anchor as alive, and saluted it respectfully 
whenever they passed near it.^ Again, the natives 
near Sydney made it an invariable rule never to whistle 
when beneath a particular cliff, because on one occasion 
a rock fell from it, and crushed some natives who were 
whistling underneath it.^ 

A very interesting case is recorded by Mr. Fer- 
gusson.^ ' The following instance of tree- worship,' he 
says, ' which I myself witnessed, is amusing, even if not 
' instructive. While residing in Tessore, I observed at 
' one time considerable crowds passing near the factory 
' I then had charge of As it might be merely an ordi- 
' nary fair they were going to attend, I took no notice ; 



1 Travels, Yol. i. p. 254. 3 rp^,^^ ^^^ Serpent Worship, 

2 OoUiDs' EngUsh Colony in N. S. p. 74. 
Wales, p. 382. 



LIFE ATTBIBUTBJD TO INANIMATE OBJECTS 287 

' but as the crowd grew daily larger, and assuraed a 
' more religious character, I inquired, and was told that 
^ a god had appeared in a tree at a place about six miles 
^ off. Next morning I rode over, and found a large 
^ space cleared in a village I knew well, in the centre of 
' which stood an old decayed date tree, hung with gar- 
' lands and offerings^ Around it houses were erected 
' for the attendant Brahmins, and a great deal of busi- 
' ness was going on in offerings and Puja. On my 
* inquiring how the god manifested his presence, I was 
^ informed that soon after the sun rose in the morning 
' the tree raised its head to welcome him, and bowed it 
^ down again when he departed. As this was a miracle 
' easily tested, I returned at noon and found it was so ! 
' After a little study and investigation the mystery 
^ did not seem difficult of explanation. The tree had 
' originally grown across the principal pathway through 
' the village, but at last hung so low that, in order to 
' enable people to pass under it, it had been turned 
' aside and fastened parallel to the road. In the opera- 
' tion the bundle of fibres which composed the root had 
' become twisted like the strands of a rope. When the 
^ morning sun struck on the upper surface of these, they 
^ contracted" in drying, and hence a tendency to un- 
' twist, which raised the head of the tree. With the 
^ evening dews they relaxed, and the head of the tree 
^ declined, thus proving to the man of science, as to the 
^ credulous Hindu that it was due to the direct action 
' of the Sun God.' 

The savage, indeed, accounts for all movement by 
life.-^ Hence the wind is a living being. Nay, even 

^ Dogs appear to do the same. 



288 lif:e attributed to inanimate objects 

motionless objects are regarded in a particular stage of 
mental progress as possessing spirits. The Karens 
believe that every object has its special spirit/ The 
chief of Teah could hardly be persuaded but that 
Lander's watch was alive and had the Dower of movine^.^ 
It is probably for this reason that in most languages 
inanimate objects are distinguished by genders, being at 
first regarded as either male or female. Hence also the 
practice of breaking or burning the weapons, &c., buried 
with the dead.^ Thus, the Wotyaks of Siberia are said 
to break the knife which they generally bury with 
the dead.^ Franklin records it of Chippewayans, and 
a similar custom prevails among the Tinneh, and 
other North American tribes. The Ainos, also, always 
break the things deposited with the dead.^ The Todas 
burn the property of the dead, though silver and other 
valuables are only passed through the fire. It is pos- 
sible that in some cases the destruction of the property 
of the deceased may simply have arisen from a dislike 
to use articles which have belonged to the dead. In 
other instances this is certainly not the case. Thus, 
among the fishermen of Lob Nor in Central Asia, 
according to Col. Prejevalsky, when a man dies half 
his nets are buried with him, half being retained by his 
heir. It has been generally supposed that this destruc- 
tion of the objects buried with the dead was merely to 
prevent them from being a temptation to robbers. This 



1 The Karens of the Gold Cher- Anthrop. Inst., vol. ii. p. 238. 
sonese, p. 121. Shooter, Kaffirs of Natal, p. 161. 

2 Niger Expedition, vol. ii. p. * Cartailhac, Mat. pour servir a 
220. I'Hist. de rHomme, 1876, p. 88. 

3 Livingstone's Zambesi, p. 522. ^ Kev. J. Bachelor in Nature, 
John's Hill Tribes of Aracan, Journ. 1888, p. 331. 



SOULS ATTBTBUTED TO INANIMATE OBJECTS 289 

is not so, ho^Yever ; savages do not invade the sanctity 
of the tomb. Just, however, as they kill a man's wives 
and slaves, his favourite horse or dog, that they may 
accompany him to the other world, so do they ' kill ' 
the weapons, that the spirits of the bows, &c., may also 
go with their master, and that he may enter the other 
world armed as a chief should be. Thus the Tahitians ^ 
believed ' that not only all other animals, but trees, 
' fruit, and even stones, have souls which, at death or 
' upon being consumed or broken, ascend to the divinity, 
' with whom they first mix, and afterwards pass into 
' the mansion allotted to each.' The Utes Indians also 
destroyed the jDroperty of the dead, and then buried it 
with him.^ 

The Fijians ^ considered that ' if an animal or a 
' plant die, its soul immediately goes to Bolotoo ; if a 
' stone or any other substance is broken, immortality is 
' equally its reward ; nay, artificial bodies have equal 
^ good luck with men, and hogs, and yams. If an axe 
' or a chisel is worn out or broken up, away flies its 
' soul for the service of the gods. If a house is taken 
' down, or any way destroyed, its immortal part will 
^ find a situation on the plains of Bolotoo.' 

The Finns believed that all inanimate objects had 
their ' haltia,' or soul.^ 

Sproat,^ speaking of N.-W. America, says that 
' when the dead are buried, the friends often burn 

^ Cook's Third Voyage, vol. ii. Seem aim's Mission to Viti, pp. 392, 

p. 106. 398. 

^ Yarrow, Mortuary Customs '^ Castren. Finn. Myth., pp. 170, 

among the North American Indians, 182. 
p. 31. ^ Sproat's Scenes and Studies of 

^ Mariner, loc cif. vol. ii. p. 137. Savage Life, p. 213. 

U 



290 SOULS ATTEIBUTED TO INANIMATE OBJECTS 

' blankets with them, for by destroying the blankets in 
' this upper world, they send them also with the de- 
^ parted soul to the world below.' The Red Indian, 
says Col. Dodge, perfectly understands that the dead 
does not actually take to the land of spirits the material 
articles buried with him, but they think that ' the spirit 
^ of the dead man will have the use of the phantoms of 
' those articles.' ^ 

Among the Hill tribes of India the Garos break the 
objects buried with the dead, who ' would not benefit 
' by them if they were given unbroken.' ^ In China,^ 
^ if the dead man was a person of note, the Bonzes make 
' great processions ; the mourners following them with 
' candles and perfumes burning in their hands. They 
' ojffer sacrifices at certain distances, and perform the 
' obsequies, in which they burn statues of men, women, 
^ horses, saddles, and other things, and abundance of 
' paper money ; all which, they believe, in the next life, 
' are converted into real ones, for the use of the party 
^ deceased, or in some cases forwarded in his care to 
' friends who had gone before.' ^ 

Thus, then, by man in this stage of progress every- 
thing was regarded as having life, and being more or 
less a deity. 

' Africans, as a rule,' says Captain Burton, ' wor- 
' ship everything except the Creator.' ^ 

In India, says Dubois,^ ' a woman adores the basket 
^ which serves to bring or to hold her necessaries, and 

1 Dodge, Hunting Grounds of * Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 445. 
the Great West, p. 284. ^ Burton's Dahome, vol. ii. p. 

2 Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 134. 

P- 67. 6 People Qf i^^^^^ ^ 373^ gee 

2 Astley, vol. iv. p. 94. also pp. 383, 386. 



WOBSHIP OF INANIMATE OBJECTS 291 

' offers sacrifices to it ; as well as to the rice-mill, and 
' other implements that assist her in her household 
' labours. A carpenter does the like homage to his 
^ hatchet, his adze, and other tools ; and likewise offers 
' sacrifices to theui. A Brahman does so to the style 
' with which he is going to write ; a soldier to the arms 
' he is to use in the field ; a mason to his trowel, and a 
' labourer to his plough.' Amongst the Karens every 
object of nature is supposed to have its guardian 
spirit/ 

The popular religion of the Andean people, says 
Mr. Clements Markham,^ ' consisted in the belief that 
' all things in nature had an ideal or soul which ruled 
' and guided them, and to which men might pray for 
' help.' 

In the words of Sir S. Baker : ^ ' Should the present 
' history of the country be written by an Arab scribe, 
' the style of the description would be purely that of 
' the Old Testament, and the various calamities or the 
' good fortunes that have in the course of nature be- 
' fallen both the tribes and the individuals would be re- 
' counted either as special visitations of Divine wrath, 
^ or blessings for good deeds performed. If in a dream 
^ a particular course of action is suggested, the Arab 
' believes that God has spoken and directed him. The 
' Arab scribe or historian would describe the event as 
' the '' voice of the Lord " (Kallam el Allah) having 
' spoken unto the person ; or, that God appeared 
'to him in a dream and '''' said^ &c." Thus, much 

1 M'Mahon, Karens of the Gold. p. 11. 
Chers., p. 121. ^ xhe Nile Tributaries of Abys- 

^ Rites and Laws of the Incas, sinia, by Sir S. W. Baker, p. 130. 

u 2 



292 TBEE-WORSEIP 

' allowance would be necessary, on the part of a Euro- 
^ pean reader, for the figurative ideas and expressions 
' of the people.' 

Mr. Fergusson, indeed, regards tree-worship in as- 
sociation with serpent- worship as the primitive faith of 
mankind. Mr. Wake^ also says: 'How are we to 
' account for the Polynesians also affixing a sacred 
' character to a species of the banyan, called by them 
' the ava tree, and for the same phenomenon being 
' found among the African tribes on the Zambesi and 
' the Shire, among the negroes of Western equatorial 
'Africa, and even in Northern Australia ? Such a 
' fact as this cannot be accounted for as a mere coin- 
' cidence.' 

Since, however, tree- worship equally prevails in 
America, we cannot regard it as any ' evidence of the 
' cbmmon origin of the various races which practise ' it. 
It is, however, one among many illustrations that the 
human mmd, in its upward progress, everywhere passes 
through the same or very similar phases. 

Tree-worship formerly existed in Assyria, Greece,^ 
Poland,^ and France. In Persia Sir T. Chardin 
frequently mentions sacred trees on which were hung 
garjnents, rags, and amulets ; Tacitus ^ mentions the 
sacred groves of Germany, and those of England are 
familiar to everyone. In the eighth century, St, Boniface 
found it necessarv to cut down a sacred oak ; even re- 
cently an oak copse at Loch Slant, in the Isle of Skye, 
was held so sacred that no person would venture to cut 



^ Chapters on Man, p. 250. ^ Olaus Magnus, Bk. III. ch. i. 

~ Baumcultus der Hellenen, ^ Tacitus, Germania, ix. 

Botticher. 1856. 



EUROPE— EGYPT 293 

the smallest branch from it ; ^ and it is said that oak- 
worship is still practised in Livonia.^ 

Trees were worshipped by the ancient Celts, and 
De Brosses ^ even derives the word kirk, now softened 
into church, from quercus^ an oak ; that species being pe- 
culiarly sacred. The Lapps also used to worship trees.^ 

At the present day tree- worship prevails through- 
out Central Africa, south of Egypt and the Sahara/ 
The Shangallas in Brace's time worshipped ' trees, 
'serpents, the moon, planets, and stars.' ^ The date 
tree, says Burckhardt, ' was worshipped by the tribe 
' Khozaa ; and the Benit Thekyf adored the rock called 
' £1 Lat ; a large tree, called Zat Arowat, was revered 
' by the Koreysh.' ^ The negroes of Guinea ^ wor- 
shipped three deities — serpents, trees, and the sea. 
Park ^ observed a tree on the confines of Bondou hung 
with innumerable offerings, principally rags. 'It had,' 
he says, ' a very singular appearance, being decorated 
' with innumerable rags or strips of cloth, which per- 
' sons travelling across the wilderness had tied to the 
' branches.' 

In Central Africa Barth^^ mentions the sacred 
groves of the Marghi — a dense part of the forest 
surrounded with a ditch, where, in the most luxuriant 
and widest- spreading tree, their god ' Zumbi is wor- 
' shipped.' 

^ Early Races of Scotland, vol. i. '^ Travels in Arabia, vol. i. p.y299. 

p. 171. ^ Voyage to Guinea, p. 195. 

^ Jour. Anthr. Inst., 187.% p. 275. Bosnian, Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. 

^ De Brosses, loc. at. p. 175. xvi. p. 4^4. MeroUa, Pinkerton's 

^ De Brosses, loc. cit. p. 169. Voyages, vol. xvi. p. 236. 

^ Park, p. 65. ^ Travels, 1817, vol. i. pp. 64, 

^ Travels, vol. iv. p. 35. See also 106. See also Caillie, vol. i. p. 156. 

vol. vi. p. 344. 1-5 Travels, vol. ii. p. 380. 



294 INDIA— CEYLON 

The negroes of Congo ^ adored a sacred tree called 
' '' Mirrone." One is generally planted near the houses 
' as if it were the tutelar god of the dwelling, the 
' Gentiles adoring it as one of their idols.' They place 
calabashes of palm wine at the feet of these trees, in 
case they should be thirsty. Bosnian also states that 
along the Gruinea Coast almost every village has its 
sacred grove.^ At Addacoodah, Oldfield^ saw a 
' gigantic tree, twelve yards and eight inches in circum- 
' ference. I soon found it was considered sacred, and 
' had several arrows stuck in it, from which were sus- 
' pended fowls, several sorts of birds, and many other 
' things, which had been offered by the natives to it as 
' a deity.' Chapman mentions a sacred tree among the 
Kaffirs, which was hung; with numerous offerino^s.^ 

The Bo tree is much worshipped in India ^ and 
Ceylon.^ ' The planting of the R4jayatana tree by 
' Buddha,' says Fergusson, ' has already been alluded 
' to, but the history of the transference of a branch of 
' the Bo tree from the Buddh-gya to Anuradhapura is 
' as authentic and as important as any event recorded 
' in the Ceylonese annals. Sent by Asoka (250 B.C.), 
' it was received with the utmost reverence by Devanam- 
' piyatisso, and planted in the most conspicuous spot in 
' the centre of his capital. There it has been reverenced 
' as the chief and most important *' numen " of Ceylon 

^ MeroUa's Voyage to Congo. ^ Expedition, vol. ii. p. 117. 

Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 236. Astley's * Travels, vol. ii. p. 50. Klemm 

Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. pp. quotes also Villault, Eel. des Costes 

95, 97. d'Afrique S., pp. 263, 267. Arbous- 

2 Loc. cit. p. 399. See also Ast- set, loc. cit. p. 104. 
ley's Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. ^ Tree and Serpent Worship, 

p. 26. Tuckey's Narrative, p. 181. pp. 56, et seq. 
Livingstone's South Africa, p. 495. ^ j^^-^_ p_ ^g^ 



HILL TRIBES OF INDIA 295 

' for more than 2,000 years, and it, or its lineal de- 
' scendant, sprung at least from the old root, is there 
' worshipped at this hour. The city is in ruins ; it- 
* great dagobas have fallen to decay ; its monasteries 
' have disappeared ; but the great Bo tree still 
^ flourishes according to the legend — ever green, never 
' growing or decreasing, but living on for ever for the 
' delight and worship of mankind. Annually thou- 
' sands repair to the sacred precincts within which 
' it stands, to do it honour, and to offer up those 
' prayers for health and prosperity which are more 
' likely to be answered if uttered in its presence. There 
' is probably no older idol in the world, certainly none 
' more venerated.' 

Some of the Chittagong Hill tribes worship the 
bamboo,^ and in the Simla Hills Cupressus torulosa is 
regarded as a sacred tree.^ In Beerbhoom, tree-worship 
is very general, and ' once a year the whole capital 
' repairs to a shrine in the jungle.' ^ This shrine con- 
sists of three trees, but it would appear that they are 
now venerated rather as the abodes of deities, than as 
the actual deities themselves. The Khyens also worship 
a thick bushy tree called Subri.* 

In Siberia the Jakuts have sacred trees on which 
they ' hang all manner of nicknacks, as iron, brass, 
' copper, &c.' ^ The Ostyaks also, as Pallas informs us, 
used to worship trees.^ ' There was pointed out to us,' 



1 Lewin's Hill Tracts of Chitta- Bengal, 1868, p. 131. 

gong, p. 10. Dalton's Trans. Ethn. * Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 

Soc, vol. vi. p. 34. p. 115. 

2 Thompson's Travels in W. ^ Strahlenberg's Travels in Si- 
Himalaya, p. 19. beria, p. 381. 

^ Hunter's Annals of Rural ^ Loc. cit. vol. iv. p. 79. 



296 SIBERIA— SUMATRA 

says Erman, ' as an important monument of an early 
' epoch in the history of Beresov,^ a larch about fifty 
' feet high, and now, through age, flourishing only at 
' the top, which has been preserved in the churchyard. 
' In former times, when the Ostyak rulers dwelt in 
' Beresov, this tree was the particular object of their 
' adoration. In this, as in many other instances, ob- 
' served by the Russians, the peculiar sacredness of the 
' tree was due to the singularity of its form and growth, 
^ for about six feet from the ground the trunk separated 
' into two equal parts, and again united. It was the 
' custom of the superstitious natives to place costly 
' offerings of every kind in the opening of the trunk ; 
' nor have they yet abandoned the usage.' Hanw^ay,^ 
in his Travels in Persia, mentions a tree ' to which 
' were affixed a number of rags left there as health- 
' offerings by persons afflicted with ague. This was 
■besides a desolate caravanserai where the traveller 
' found nothing but water.' 

In some parts ^ of Sumatra likewise ' they super- 
' stitiously believe that certain trees, particularly those 
' of venerable appearance, are the residence, or rather 
' the material frame, of spirits of the woods ; an opinion 
' which exactly answers to the idea entertained by the 
' ancients of the dryades and hamadryades. At Ben- 
' kunat, in the Lampong country, there is a long Btone, 
' standing on a flat one, supposed by the people to 
' possess extraordinary power of virtue. It is reported 

^ Erman's Travels in Siberia, vol. Scotland, vol. i. p. 163. See also De 

i. p. 464. See also Des. de toutes Brosses, loc. cit. pp. 144, 145. 

les Nat. de I'Emp. Russe, pt. xi. ^ Marsden's History of Sumatra, 

p. 43. p. .301. 

^ Quoted in the Early Races of 



PHILIPPINES— FIJIAN S—NOBTE AMERICA 297 

* to have been once thrown down into the water, and 
' to have raised itself again into its original position, 
^ agitating the elements at the same time with a pro- 
' digious storm. To approach it without respect they 
^ believe to be the source of misfortune to the offender.' 

Among the natives of the Philippines also we find 
the worship of trees.^ They ' believed that the world at 
^ first c onsisted only of sky and water, and between these 
' two a glede (hawk) ; which, weary with flying about, 
' and finding no place to rest, set the water at variance 
' with the sky, which, in order to keep it in bounds, 
' and that it should not get uppermost, loaded the water 
' with a number of islands, in which the glede might 
' settle and leave them at peace. Mankind, they said, 
^ sprang out of a large cane with two joints ; that floating 
' about in the water was at length thrown by the waves 
' against the feet of the glede, as it stood on shore, 

* which opened it with its bill ; the man came out of one 
'joint, the woman out of the other. These were soon 
' after married by the consent of their god, Bathala 
' Meycapal, which caused the first trembling of the 
' earth ; and from thence are descended the different 
' nations of the world.' 

The Fijian s also worshipped certain plants.^ Tree- 
worship was less prevalent in America. Trees and 
plants were worshipped by the Mandans and Moni- 
tarees.^ A large ash was venerated by the Indians of 
Lake Superior.^ 

In North America, Franklin^ describes a sacred tree 

^ Marsden's History of Sumatra, ^ Miiller, Amer. Urrel., p. 59. 

p. 303. 4 Muller. Amer. Urrel., p. 125. 

^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. ^ Journeys to the Polar Sea, 

p. 219. vol. i p. 221. 



298 MEXICO— PEBU— PATAGONIA 

on which the Crees ' had hung strips of buffalo flesh 
' and pieces of cloth.' They complained to him of some 
'Stone Indians, who, two nights before, had stripped 
' their revered tree of many of its offerings.' In Mexico 
Mr. Tylor ^ observed an ancient cypress of remarkable 
size : ' all over its branches were fastened votive ofl'er- 
' insrs of the Indians, hundreds of locks of coarse black 
' hair, teeth, bits of coloured cloth, rags and morsels of 
' ribbon.' In Nicaragua, not only large trees, but even 
maize and beans, were worshipped.^ Maize was also 
worshipped in the Peruvian province of Huanca.^ 

In Patao;onia, Mr. Darmn^ mentions a sacred tree 
' which the Indians reverence as the altar of Walleechu. 
' It is situated on a high part of the plain, and hence is 
' a landmark visible at a great distance. As soon as a 
' tribe of Indians come in sight of it they offer their 
' adorations by loud shouts. . . . Being winter, the 
' tree had no leaves, but in their place numberless 
' threads, by which the various offerings, such as cigars, 
' bread, meat, pieces of cloth, &c., had been suspended. 
' Poor people, not having anything better, only pulled 
' a thread out of their ponchoo, and fastened it to the 
' tree. The Indians, moreover, were accustomed to 
' pour spirits and mate into a certain hole, and like- 
* wise to smoke upwards, thinking thus to afford all 
' possible gratification to Walleechu. To complete the 
' scene, the tree was surrounded by the bleached bones 
' of the horses which had been slaughtered as sacrifices. ' 

^ Anahuac, p. 215. He men- ^ Martius, loc. cit. p. 80. G. de 

tions a second case of the same sort la Vega, Oommem. of the Tncas, 

on p. 265. vol. i. pp. 47, 331. 

^ Miiller, loc. cit. p. 494. See ^ Researches in Geology and 

also p. 491. Natural History, p. 79. 



WATUE-WOBSHIF 299 

The Abenaquis also had a sacred tree.^ 

Thus, then, this form of rehgion can be shown to be 
general to most of the great races of men at a certain 
stage of mental development.^ 

We will now pass to the worship of lakes, rivers, 
and springs, which we shall find to have been not less 
widely distributed. It was at one time very prevalent 
in Western Europe. Herodotus mentions the exist- 
ence of sacred lakes among the Libyans.^ According 
to Cicero, Justin, and Strabo, there was a lake near 
Toulouse in which the neighbouring tribes used to 
deposit offerings of gold and silver. Tacitus, Pliny, 
and Virgil also allude to sacred lakes. In the sixth 
century, Gregory of Tours mentions a sacred lake on 
Mount Helanus. 

In Brittany there is the celebrated well of St. Anne 
of Auray, and the sacred fountain at Lanmeur, in the 
crypt of the church of St. Melars, to which crowds of 
pilgrims still resort.^ 

In our own country traces of water- worship are also 
abundant. It is expressly mentioned by Gildas, and is 
said to be denounced in a Saxon homily preserved in 
Cambridge.^ ' At St. Fillan's ^ well, at Comrie, in 
' Perthshire, numbers of persons in search of health, so 
'late as 1791, came or were brought to drink of the 
' water and bathe in it. All these walked or were 
' carried three times deasil (sunwise) round the well. 



^ De Brosses, Du Culte des ^ Mon. Hist. Brit. vii. 

Dieux Fetiches, p. 51. Lafitau, vol. ^ Wright's Superstitions of Eng- 

i. p. 146. land. 

2 Early Eaces of Scotland, vol. ^ Early Races of Scotland, vol. i. 

i. p. 158. p. 156. 

* Melpomene, 158, 181. 



300 EUBOFE— SIBERIA 

' They also threw each a white stone on an adjacent 
' cairn, and left behind a scrap of their clothing as an 
' offering to the genius of the place.' In the Scotch 
islands also are many sacred wells, and I have myself 
seen the holy well in one of the islands of Loch Maree 
surrounded by the little offerings of the peasantry, con- 
sisting principally of rags and halfpence. 

Colonel Forbes Leslie ^ observes that in Scotland 
' there are few parishes without a holy well ; ' nor was 
it much less general in Ireland. The kelpie, or spirit 
of the waters, assumed various forms, that of a man, 
woman, horse, or bull being the most common. Scot- 
land and Ireland are full of legends about this spirit, a 
firm belief in the existence of which was general in the 
last century, and is even now far from abandoned. 

Of river- worship we have many cases recorded in 
Greek history. ^ Peleus dedicated a lock of Achilles' 
hair to the river Spercheios. The Pulians sacrificed a 
bull to Alpheios ; Themis summoned the rivers to the 
great Olympian assembly. Okeanos, the Ocean, and 
Various fountains were regarded as divinities. Water- 
worship in the time of Homer was, however, gradually 
ebbing "away ; and belonged rather, I think, to an earlier 
stage in development, than, as Mr. Gladstone believes, 
to a different race.^ 

In Northern Asia, the Tunguses * and Yotyaks ^ 
worship various springs. De Brosses mentions that the 



^ See Forbes Leslie'8 Early ^ j^-^ ^^ ^77, 187. 

Races of Scotland, vol. i. p. 145. ^ Pallas, vol. iv. p. 641. 

Campbell's Tales of the VS^est High- ^ Des. de toutes les Nat. de 

^a^ids. TEmp. Russe, pt. ii. p. 80. 

^ Juventus Mundi, p. 190. 



INDIA 301 

' River Sogcl was worshipped at Samarcand.^ In ^ the 
' tenth century a schism took place in Persia among 
^ the Armenians, one part}' being accused of despising 
^ the holy well of Vagarschiebat.' 

The Bouriats also, though Buddhists, have sacred 
lakes. Atkinson thus describes one. In an after-dinner 
ramble, he says,^ ' I came upon the small and pictu- 
' resque lake of Ikeougoun, which lies in the mountains 
' to the north of San-ghin-dalai, and is held in venera- 
' tion. They have erected a small wooden temple on 
' the shore, and here they come to sacrifice, offering up 
^ milk, butter, ard the fat of the animals, which they 
' burn on the little altars. The large rock in the lake 
' is with them a sacred stone, on which some rude 
' figures are traced ; and on the bank opposite they 
'place rods with small silk flags, havmg inscriptions 
' printed on them.' Lake Ahoosh also is accounted 
sacred among the Baskirs."^ 

The divinity of water, says Dubois, is recognised by 
' all the people of India.' ^ Besides the well-known 
worship of the holy Ganges, the tribes of the Neilgherry 
Hills ^ worship rivers under the name of Grangamma, 
and in crossing them it is usual to drop a coin into the 
water as an offering and the price of a safe passage. 
In the Deccan and in Ceylon trees and bushes near 
springs may often be seen covered with votive offerings.^ 
The worship of rivers also prevails among many of the 



1 Loc. cit. p. 146. ■' The People of India, p. 125. 

2 Whipple, Report on the Indian See also pp. 376, 419. 

Tribes, p. 44. '' The Tribes of the Neilgherry 

3 Siberia, p. 445. Hills, p. 68. 

^ Atkinson's Oriental and West- '^ Early Races of Scotland, vol. i. 

em Siberia, p. 141. p. 163. 



302 AFEICA 

Hill tribes, as, for instance, the Karrias, Santhals, 
Khonds, &c.^ The Karens' and Burmese also ^ have 
' sacred wells, .... the waters of which are inhabited 
' by spirits, which carry off girls, just like the Scotch 
^ water-spirits.' The people of Sumatra ' are said to pay 
^ a kind of adoration to the sea, and to make it an offer- 
' ing of cakes and sweatmeats on their beholding it for the 
^ first time, deprecating its power of doing them harm.' ^ 
In the Ashantee country, Bosman mentions 'the 
' Chamascian river, or Rio de San Juan, called by the 
' negroes Bossum Pra, which they adore as a god, as 
' the word Bossum signifies.' ^ The Eufrates, the prin- 
cipal river of Whydah, is also looked on as sacred, and 
a yearly procession is made to it.^ Phillips ^ mentions 
that on one occasion in 1693, when the sea was un- 
usually rough, the Kabosheers complained to the king, 
who ' desired them to be. easy, and he would make the 
' sea quiet next day. Accordingly he sent his fetish- 
' man with a jar of palm oil, a bag of rice and corn, a 
^ jar oipitto^ a bottle of brandy, a piece of painted calico, 
' and several other things to present to the sea. Being 
' come to the seaside (as the author was informed by 
' his men who saw the ceremony), he made a speech to 
' it, assuring it that his king was its friend, and loved 
' the white men ; that they were honest fellows, and 
' came to trade with him for what he wanted ; and that 
' he requested the sea not to be angry, nor hinder them 



^ Early Races of Scotland, vol. * Loe. cit. p. 348. See also 

ii. p. 497. Dalton's Des. Ethn. of p. 494. Smith's Voyage to Guinea, 

Bengal, p. 159. p. 197. 

2 M'Mahon, The Karens of the ^ Astley, loc. cit. p. 26. 

Gold. Chersonese, pp. 307, 343. ^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, 



Marsden, loc. cit. p. 301. vol. ii. p. 411. 



AFRICA 303 

^ to land their goods ; he told it that if it wanted palm 
' oil, his king had sent it some ; and so threw the jar 
' with the oil into the sea, as he did, with the same 
' compliment, the rice, corn, pitto, brandy, calico, &c.' 
Again, Yillault^ mentions that lakes, rivers, and ponds 
come in also for their share of worship. He was present 
at a singular ceremony near Akkra. A great number 
of blacks assembled about a pond, bringing with them 
a sheep and some gallipots, which they offered to the 
pond, M. Yillault being informed ' that this lake, or 
' pond, being one of their deities, and the common 
' messenger of all the rivers of their country, they threw 
^ in the gallipots with these ceremonies to implore his 
' assistance ; and to beg him to carry immediately that 
' pot, in their name, to other rivers and lakes to buy 
^ water for them, and hoped, at his return, he would 
^ pour the pot-full on their corn, that they might have a 
* good crop.' 

Some of the negroes on the Guinea Coast ^ ' looked 
' on the whites as the gods of the sea ; that the mast 
' was a divinity that made the ship walk, and the pump 
' was a miracle^ since it could make water rise up, whose 
' natural property is to descend.' Mr. Creswick, in his 
description of the Veys, says,^ ' There is a dangerous 
' rock in the Mafa river, which is never passed without 
' giving tribute, either a leaf of tobacco, a handful of 
' rice, or drmk of rum, as a peace-offering to the spirit 
' of the flood.' On the Zambesi, the natives place offer- 
ings on the rocks in dangerous places, to propitiate the 
spirits of the waters.^ 

^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc, vol. vi. p. 359. 

p. 668. ^ Astley, vol. ii. p. 105. * Livingstone's Zambesi, p. 41. 



304 NORTH AMERICA 

In North America the Dacotahs ^ worship a god of 
the waters under the name of Unktahe. They say that 
' this god and its associates are seen in their dreams. It 
^ is the master-spirit of all their juggling and super sti 
' tious belief. From it the medicine-men obtain their 
' supernatural powers, and a great part of their religion 
' springs from this god.' Franklin ^ mentions that, the 
wife of one of his Indian guides being ill, her husband 
' made an oiFering to the water- spirits, whose wrath he 
' apprehended to be the cause of her malady. It con- 
' sisted of a knife, a piece of tobacco, and some other 
' trifling articles, which were tied up in a small bundle, 
' and committed to the rapid.' Carver ^ observes that 
when the Redskins ' arrive on the borders of Lake 
' Superior, on the banks of the Mississippi, or any other 
' great body of water, they present to the spirit who 
' resides there some kind of offering, as the prince of 
' the Winnebagoes did when he attended me to the Falls 
' of St. Anthony.' Tanner also gives instances of this 
custom.^ On one occasion a Redskin, addressing the 
spirit of the waters, ' told him that he had come a long 
' way to pay his adorations to him, and now would 
' make him the best offerings in his power. He 
' accordingly first threw his pipe into the stream ; then 
' the roll that contained his tobacco ; after these, the 
' bracelets he wore on his arms and wrists ; next an 
' ornament that encircled his neck, composed of beads 
' and wires ; and at last the earrings from his ears ; in 



' Scboolcraft's Indian Tribes, pt. ^ Carver's Travels, p. 383. 

iii. p. 485. 4 Narrative of the Captivity of 

■^ Journey to the Shores of the John Tanner, p. 46. 
Polar Sea, 1819-22, vol. ii. p. 245. 



CENTRAL AMEBIGA 305 

^ short, he presented to his god every part of his dress 
^ that was valuable.' ^ The Mandans also were in the 
habit of sacrificing to the spirit of the waters.^ 

In North Mexico, near the 35th parallel. Lieutenant 
Whipple found a sacred spring which from time imme- 
morial ^ had been held sacred to the rain-god.' ^ No 
animal may drink of its waters. It must be annually 
cleansed with ancient vases, which, having been trans- 
mitted from generation to generation by the caciques, 
are then placed upon the walls, never to be removed. 
The frog, the tortoise, and the rattlesnake, represented 
upon them, are sacred to Montezuma, the patron of the 
place, who would consume by lightning any sacrilegious 
hand that should dare to take the relics away. In 
Nicaragua rain was worshipped under the name of 
Quiateot. The principal water-god of Mexico, how- 
ever, was Tlaloc, who was worshipped by the Toltecs, 
Chichemecs, and Aztecs.^ In New Mexico, not far from 
Zuni, Dr. Bell ^ describes a sacred spring ' about eight 
' feet in diameter, walled round with stones, of which 
' neither cattle nor men may drink : the animals sacred 
' to water (frogs, tortoises, and snakes) alone must 
' enter the pool. Once a year the cacique and his 
' attendants perform certain religious rites at the 
' spring : it is thoroughly cleared out ; water-pots are 
' brought as an offering to the spirit of Montezuma, and 
' are placed bottom upwards on the top of the wall of 
^ stones.' In Peru the sea, under the name of Mama 
Cocha, was the principal deity of the Chinchas.^ The 

' Ibid. p. 67. p. 40. 

'^ Catlin's North American In- ^ Miiller, Amer. Urrel., p. 496. 

dians, vol. i. p. 160. ^ Ethn. Journ., 1869, p. 227. 

3 Report on the Indian Tribes, *^ Miiller, Amer. Urrel., p. 368. 

X 



306 THE WORSHIP OF STONES 

Indians of the Coast, says Garcilasso de la Vega, ' from 
^ Truxillo to Tarapaca, which are at the northern and 
' southern extremities of Peru, worshipped the sea in 
* the shape of a fish.' ^ One branch of the Collas deduced 
their origin from a river, the others from a spring ; ^ 
there was also a special rain-goddess. In Paraguay^ 
also the rivers are propitiated by offerings of tobacco. 

We will now pass to the worship of stones and 
mountains, a form of religion not less general than those 
already described. 

M. Dulaure, in his ' Histoire Abregee des Cultes,' 
explains the origin of stone -worship as arising from the 
respect paid to boundary-stones. I do not doubt that 
the worship of some particular stones may thus have 
originated. Hermes, or Termes, was evidently of this 
character, and hence we may j)erhaps explain the pecu- 
liar characteristics of Hermes, or Mercury, whose symbol 
was an upright stone. 

Mercury, or Hermes, says Lempriere, ' was the mes- 
' senger of the gods. He w^as the patron of travellers 
' and shepherds ; he conducted the souls of the dead 
' into the infernal regions, and not only presided over 
' orators, merchants, and declaimers, but he was also the 
^ god of thieves, pickpockets, and all dishonest persons.' 
He invented letters and the lyre, and was the originator 
of arts and sciences. 

It is difiicult at first to see the connection between 
these various offices, chara«terised as they are by such 
opposite peculiarities. Yet they all follow, I think, from 
the custom of marking boundaries by upright stones. 

1 Loc. cit. p. 148. p. 168. 

^ Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. i. ^ ^.oc. cit. p. 258. 



ATTRIBUTES OF THE GOD MEBGUEY 307 

Hence the name Hermes, or Termes, the boundary. In 
the troublous times of old, it was usual, in order to 
avoid disputes, to leave a tract of neutral territory be- 
tween the possessions of different nations. These were 
called marches ; hence the title of Marquis, which means 
an officer appointed to watch the frontier or 'march.' 
These marches, not being cultivated, served as grazing 
grounds. To them came merchants in order to ex- 
change on neutral ground the products of their respec- 
tive countries, they were, in fact, the first markets ; here 
also for the same reason treaties were negotiated. Here 
again international games and sports were held. Upright 
stones were used to indicate places of burial ; and lastly 
on them were engraved laws and decrees, records of 
remarkable events, and the praises of the deceased. 

Hence Mercury, represented by a plain upright 
stone, was the god of travellers because he was a land- 
mark ; of shepherds as presiding over the pastures ; he 
conducted the souls of the dead into the infernal regions 
because even in very early days upright stones were 
used as tombstones ; he was the god of merchants, 
because commerce was carried on principally at the 
frontiers ; and of thieves out of sarcasm. He was the 
messenger of the gods because ambassadors met at the 
frontiers ; and of eloquence for the same reason. He 
invented the lyre, and presided over games, because 
contests in music, &c., were held on neutral ground ; 
and he was regarded as the author of letters, because 
inscriptions were engraved on upright pillars. 

Stone- worship, however, in its simpler forms has, I 
think, a different origin from this and is merely a form 
of that indiscriminate worship which characterises the 

I 2 



308 SIBJ^BIA—EINBOSTAN 

human mind in a particular phase of development. 
Pallas states that the Ostyaks^ and Tunguses worship 
mountains,^ and the Tartars stones.^ Near Lake BaikaP 
is a sacred rock which is regarded as the special abode 
of an evil spirit, and is consequently much feared by 
the natives. In India stone- worship is very prevalent, 
especially among the aboriginal tribes. The Asagas of 
Mysore ' worship a god called Bhuma Devam, who is 
' represented by a shapeless stone.' ^ ' One thing is cer- 
' tain,' says Mr. Hislop, ' the worship (of stones) is 
' spread over all parts of the country from Berar to the 
' extreme east of Bustar, and that not merely among the 
' Hinduised aborigines, who had begun to honour Khan- 
' dova, &c., but among the rudest and most savage 
^ tribes. He is generally adored in the form of an un- 
^ shapely stone covered with vermilion.'^ ' Two rude 
^ slave castes in Tulava (Southern India), the Bakadara 
* and Betadara, worship a benevolent deity named Buta, 
' represented by a stone kept in every house.' ^ * Indeed, 
' in every part of Southern India, four or five stones may 
^ often be seen in the ryots' field placed in a row and 
' daubed with red paint, which they consider as guardians 
^ of the field and call the five Pandus.' ^ Colonel Forbes 
Leslie supposes that this red paint is intended to repre- 
sent blood. ^ The god of each Khond village is repre- 
sented by three stones.^^ PL III. represents a group of 

* VoyagesdePallaSjVol. iv. p.79. ^ Aboriginal Tribes, p. 16. 

2 Ibid. pp. 434, 648. Quoted in Etbn. Journ., yoI. viii. 

3 Ibid. pp. 514, 598. p. 96. 

* HiU's Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. "^ J. Etbn. Soc, vol. viii. p. 115. 
p. 142. 8 jr^^-^ ^oi ix^ p 125. 

^ Buchanan's Journey, vol. i. p. 9 Early Eaces of Scotland, vol. ii. 

338. Quoted in Etbn. Journ., vol. p. 462. 
viii. p. 96. 10 Zoo. cit vol. ii. p. 497. 



"^7 5 



irt Ml'' '.'\ ' >: i'' -'',1,1 









if \1'iJ S^#M 
V I' i ''/ 



li 

'li J . 
1 



''II, 



Iff 

'?/ SKI? 






r ,f 



'W' 

M 




i^MU 



I'll" |i#piiki|i 



HINBOSTAN—NJSW ZEALAND 309 

sacred stones, near Delgaum in the Dekkan, from a 
figure given by Colonel Forbes Leslie in his interesting 
work.^ The three largest stood ' in front of the centre 
of two straight lines, each of which consisted of thir- 
teen stones. These lines were close together, and the 
edges of the stones were placed as near to each other 
as it was possible to do with slabs which, although 
selected, had never been artificially shaped. The stone 
in the centre of each line was nearly as high as the 
highest of the three that stood in front ; but the 
others gradually decreased in size from the centre until 
those at the ends were less than a foot above the ground 
into which they were all secured. Three stones, not 
fixed, were placed in front of the centre of the group ; 
they occupied the same position, and were intended for 
the same purposes, as those in the circular temple just 
described. All the stones had been selected of an 
angular shape, with somewhat of an obelisk form in 
general appearance. The central group and double 
lines faced nearly east, and on that side were white- 
washed. On the white, near, although not reaching 
quite to the apex of each stone, nor extending alto- 
gether to the sides, was a large spot of red paint, two- 
thirds of which from the centre were blacked over, 
leaving only a circular external belt of red. This 
gave, as I believe it was intended to do, a good repre- 
sentation of a large spot of blood.' 

In connection with these painted stones it is remark- 
able that in New Zealand red is a sacred colour, and 
' the way of rendering anything tapu was by making it 
' red. When a person died, his house was thus painted ; 

^ Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 464. 



310 EINDOSTAN 

' when the tapu was laid on anything, the chief erected 
' a post and painted it with the kura ; wherever a corpse 
' rested, some memorial was set up ; oftentimes the 
' nearest stone, rock, or tree served as a monument ; 
'but whatever object was selected, it was sure to be 
' painted red. If the corpse w^as conveyed by water, 
' wherever they landed a similar token was left ; and 
' when it reached its destination, the canoe was dragged 
' on shore, painted red, and abandoned. When the 
' hahunga took place, the scraped bones of the chief 
' thus ornamented, and wrapped in a red- stained mat, 
' were deposited in a box or bowl smeared with the 
' sacred colour and placed in a painted tomb. Near 
' his final resting-place a lofty and elaborately carved 
' monument Was erected to his memory ; this was called 
' the tiki, which was also thus coloured.' ^ Eed was also 
a sacred colour in Congo. ^ 

Colonel Dalton describes ^ a ceremony which curi- 
ously resembles the well-known scene in the life of 
Elijah, when he met the jmests of Baal on the top of 
Carmel, showed his superior power, and recalled Israel 
to the old faith. The Sonthals of Central Hindostan 
worship a conspicuous hill called ' Marang Boroo.' In 
times of drought they go to the top of this sacred 
mountain, and offer their sacrifices on a large flat stone> 
playing on drums and beseeching their god for rain. 
' They shake their heads violently, till they work them- 
' selves into a phrensy, and the movement becomes 
' involuntary. They go on thus wildly gesticulating 

^ Taylor's New Zealand and the 273. 
New Zealanders, p. 95. 3 Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. vi. 

^ MeroUo, Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. p. 35. 



TEB ARABIANS, PECENIC1AN8, ETC. 311 

'till a ''little cloud like a man's hand" is seen. Then 
' they arise, take up their drums, and dance the kurrun 
' on the rock, till Marang Boroo's response to their 
' prayer is heard in the distant rumbling of thunder, 
' and they go home rejoicing. They must go " fasting 
' " to the mount," and stay there till " there is a sound 
' " of abundance of rain," when they get them down 
' to eat and drink. My informant tells me it always 
' comes before evening.' 

The Arabians down to the tiuie of Mahomet, wor- 
shipped a black stone. ' The Beni Thekyf adored the 
' rock called El Lat.' ^ The Phcenicians also worshipped 
a deity under the form of an unshapen stone.^ The god 
Heliogabalus was merely a black stone of a conical 
form. Upright stones were worshipped by the Romans 
and the Greeks, under the name of Hermes, or Mercury. 
The Thespians had a rude stone, which they regarded 
as a deity, and the Boeotians worshipped Hercules uader 
the same form.^ The Laplanders also had sacred 
mountains and rocks.^ Stone- worship indeed is said 
even now to linger in some of the Pyrenean valleys. 

In Western Europe during the middle ages we meet 
with several denunciations of stone-worship, proving its 
strong hold on the people. Thus '^ 'the worship of 
' stones was condemned by Theodoric, Archbishop of 
' Canterbury, in the seventh century, and is among 
' the acts of heathenism forbidden by King Edgar 
' in the tenth, and by Cnut in the eleventh century. 
' In a council held at Tours in a.d. 567, priests were 

^ Burckhardt's Tr. in Arabia, ^ Dulaure, loc. cit. p. 50. 

vol. i, p. 299. ■' Forbes Leslie, loc. cit. vol. i. 

~ Kenrick's Phoenicia, p. 323. p. 256. 
^ See De Brosses, loc. cit. p. 155. 



312 EUROPE 

' admonished to shut the doors of their churches against 
' all persons worshipping upright stones, and Mahe 
' states that a manuscript record of the proceedings of a 
' council held at Nantes in the ninth century makes 
'mention of the stone- worship of the Armoricans.' 

' Les Franqais,' says Dulaure/ ' adorerent des pierres 
' plusieurs siecles apres I'etablissement du christianisme 
' parmi eux. Diverses lois civiles et rehgieuses attestent 
' I'existence de ce culte. Un capitulaire de Charle- 
' magne, et le concile de Leptine, de I'an 743, defendent 
' les ceremonies superstitieuses qui se pratiquent aupres 
' des pierres et aupres des Fans consacres a Mercure et 
'a Jupiter. Le concile de JSTanteSjCite par Reginon, 
' fait la meme defense. II nous apprend que ces pierres 
' etaient situees dans des lieux agrestes, et que le peuple, 
' dupe des tromperies des demons, y apportait ses voeux 
' et ses offrandes. Les conciles d'Arles, de Tours, le 
' capitulaire d'Aix-la-Chapelle, de Fan 789, et plusieurs 
' synodes, renouv client ces prohibitions.' 

In L-eland in the fifth century, King Laoghaive wor- 
shipped a stone pillar called the Crom-Cruach, which 
was overthrown by St. Patrick. Another stone at 
Clogher was worshipped by the Irish under the name 
of Kermand-Kelstach.^ There was a sacred stone in 
Jura^ round which the people used to move ' deasil,' 
i.e. sunwise. ' In some of the Hebrides '^ the people 
' attributed oracular power to a large black stone.' In 
the island of Skye ' in every district there is to be met 
' with a rude stone consecrated to Gruagach, or Apollo. 



^ Dulaure, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 304. ^ Forbes Leslie, loc. cit. vol. i. 

' Dr. Todd's St. Patrick, p. 127. p. 267. 
^ Martin's Western Isles, p. 241. 



I 



AFBIG A— POLYNESIA 313 

' The Rev. Mr. McQueen of Skye says that in almost 
' every village the sun, called Grugach, or the Fair- 
^ haired, is represented by a rude stone ; and he further 
' states that libations of milk were poured on thegruaich- 
' stones.' ' Finn Magnusen/ says Prof. Nilsson, * relates 
* that the peasants in certain mountain districts in Nor- 
' way, even as late as the close of the last century, used 
' to preserve stones of a round form, and reverenced them 
' in the same manner as their pagan ancestors used to 
' worship their idols. They washed them every Thurs- 
' day evening, smeared them before the fire with butter, 
' or some other grease, then dried them and laid them in 
' the seat of honour upon fresh straw ; at certain times 
^ of the year they were steeped in ale, and all this under 
' the supposition that they would bring luck and com- 
' fort to the house.' ^ 

Passing to Africa, Caillie observed near the negro 
village of N 'pal a sacred stone, on which everyone as 
he passed threw a thread out of his 'pagne,' or breech- 
cloth, as a sort of offering. The natives firmly believe 
that when any danger threatens the village this stone 
leaves its place and ' moves thrice round it in the pre- 
' ceding night, by way of warning.' ^ Bruce observes 
that the pagan Abyssinians ' worship a tree, and likewise 
' a stone.' ^ 

The Tahitians believed in two principal gods ; ' the 
' Supreme Deity, one of these two first beings, they call 
^ Taroataihetoomoo, and the other, whom they sup- 
' pose to have been a rock, Tepapa.' ^ The volcanic 



^ Nilsson on the Stone Age, p. ^ Bruce's Travels, vol. vi. p. 343. 

241. * Hawkesworth's Voyages, vol. 

2 Oailli^, vol. i. p. 25. ii. p. 238. 



314 



FIJI ISLANDS 



mountain Tongariro was ' held in traditional veneration 
' by the New Zealanders.' ^ The Hervey Islanders also 
worshipped upright stones.^ 

In the Fiji^ Islands 'rude consecrated stones, (fig. 
' 20) are to be seen near Vuna, where offerings of food 
' are sometimes made. Another stands on a reef near 
' Naloa, to which the natives tarn a ; and one near Tho- 

EiG. 20 




SACEED STONES. (Fiji Islands.) 

' kova, Na Fiti Levu, named Lovekaveka, is regarded 
' as the abode of a goddess, for whom food is provided. 
' This, as seen in the engraving, is like a round black 
' milestone, slightly inclined, and having a liku (girdle) 
' tied round the middle. The shrine of Rewau is a 
' large stone, which, like the one near Naloa, hates mos- 



^ Dieffenbach's New Zealand, 
vol. i. p. 347. 

2 Gill, Myths of the South 



Pacific, p. 32. 

3 Williams' Fiji and the Fijian s, 
vol. i. p. 220. 



AMEBIGA 315 

^ quitoes, and keeps them from collecting near where he 
' rules ; he has also two large stones for his wives, one 
' of whom came from Yandua, and the other from 
' Yasawa. Although no one pretends to know the 
' origin of Ndengei, it is said that his mother, in the 
' form of two great stones, lies at the bottom of a moat. 
* Stones are also used to denote the locality of some 
' other gods, and the occasional resting-places of others. 
' On the southern beaches of Vanua Levu a large stone 
' is seen which has fallen upon a smaller one. ^ These, 
' it is said, represent the gods of two towns on that coast 
' fighting, and their quarrel has for years been adopted 
' by those towns.' On one of these sacred stones in the 
same neighbourhood are circular marks, closely resem- 
bling those on some of our European menhirs, &c. 

In Micronesia, in the groups of Apamama and 
Tarawa, ' Tabueriki is worshipped under the form of a 
' flat coral stone, of irregular shape, about three feet 
' long by eighteen inches wide, set up on one end in the 
'open air.'^ The.Tannese also venerate stones, and 
the principal deity of Tokalau was supposed to be 
embodied in a stone, which is carefully wrapped up in 
fine mats.^ The Sumatrans also, as already mentioned 
{ante, p. 296), and the Torres Straits Islanders^ had 
sacred stones. 

Sproat mentions a mountain in Vancouver's Island 
which the natives are afraid to mention, fearing that if 
they did so it would cause them to be wrecked at sea.^ 

1 Hale's Ethn. of the U. S. Ex. ^ Gill, Life in the Southern Isles, 

Exp., p. 97. p. 217. 

^ Turner's Nineteen Years in "* Scenes and Studies of Sav. Life, 

Polynesia, pp. 88, 527. p. 265. 



316 FIEE-W0B8EIP 

Prescott ^ says that a Dacotah Indian ' will pick up 
' a round stone, of any kind, and paint it, and go a few 
' rods from his lodge, and clear away the grass, say 
' from one to two feet in diameter, and. there place his 
' stone, or god, as he would term it, and make an 
' offering of some tobacco and some feathers, and pray 
' to the stone to deliver him from some danger that he 
' has probably dreamed of, or from imagination.' The 
Monit arris, also, before any great undertaking, were in 
the habit of making offerings to a sacred stone named 
Mih Choppenish.^ In Florida a mountain called 
Olaimi was worshipped, and among the Natchez of 
Louisiana a conical stone.^ 

In South America the Peruvians kept ' stones in 
' their houses, treating them as gods, and sacrificing 
' human flesh and blood to them.' * 

Fire-worship, again, is so widely distributed as to 
be almost universal. Since the introduction of lucifer 
matches we can hardly appreciate the difficulty which 
a savage has in obtaining a light, especially in damp 
weather. It is said, even, that some Austrahan tribes 
did not know how to do so, and that others, if their fire 
went out, would go many miles to borrow a spark from 
another tribe, rather than attempt to produce a new one 
for themselves. Hence in several very widely separated 
parts of the world we find it has been customary to tell 
off one or more persons, whose sole duty it should be 
to keep up a continual fire. Hence, no doubt, the 



4 

^ Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, ^ Lafitau, vol. i. p. 146. 

vol. ii. p. 229. Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 321. * Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. ii. 

^ Klemm, Culturgeschichte, vol. p. 138. See also vol. i. p. 47. 
ii. p. 178. 



FIBE-W0B8HIP 317 

origin of the Vestal Virgins ; and hence also the idea 
of the sacredness of fire would naturally arise. 

According to Lafitau/ M. Huet, in a work which I 
have not been able to see, ' fait une longue enumeration 
^ des peuples qui entretenoient ce feu sacre, et il cite 

* partout ses autorit^s, de sorte qu'il paroit qu'il n'y 
^ avoit point de partie du monde connu, oil ce culte ne 
' fat universellement repandu. Dans I'Asie, outre les 
^ Juifs et les Chaldeens dont nous venons de parler, 

* outre les peuples de Phrygie, de Lycie, et de TAsie- 
^ Mineure, il etoit encore chez les Perses, les Medes, les 
^ Scythes y les Sarmates, chez toutes les nations du Ponte 
' et de la Cappadoce, chez toutes celles des Indes, oil 
' Ton se faisoit un devoir de se jeter dans les flammes, 
' et de s'y consumer en holocauste, et chez toutes celles 
^ des deux Arables, oil chaque jour a certaines heures 

* on faisoit un sacrifice au feu, dans lequel plusieurs 
^ personnes se devouoient. Dans I'Afrique il etoit non 
' seulement chez les Egyptiens, qui entretenoient ce feu 
^ immortel dans chaque temple, ainsi que I'assure 
^ Porphyre, mais encore dans I'Ethiopie, dans la Lybie, 
' dans le temple de Jupiter Ammon, et chez les Atlan- 
' tiques, oil Hiarbas, roy des Garamantes et des Getules, 
' avoit dresse cent autels, et consacre autant de feux, 
^ que Virgile appelle des feux vigilans et les gardes 
' eternelles des dieux. Dans I'Europe le culte de Vesta 
' etoit si bien 6tabli que, sans parler de Rome et de 
^ I'ltalie, il n'y avoit point de ville de la Grrece qui n'eut 
' un temple, un prytanee, et un feu eternel, ainsi que le 
^ remarque Casaubon dans ses '']!^otes sur Athen^e." 
' Les temples cel^bres d'Hercule dans les Espagnes et 

^ Lafitau, p. 163» 



318 ASIA— AMERICA 

' dans les Gaules, celui de Yulcain au mont Ethna, de 
' Venus Erycine, avoient tons leurs pyrethes ou feux 
' sacres. On pent citer de semblables temoignages des 
' nations les plus reculees dans le nord, qui etoient 
' toutes originaires des Scythes et des Sarmates. Enfin 
' M. Huet pretend qu'il n'y a pas encore long temps que 
' ce culte a ete aboli dans THybernie et dans la Moscovie, 
' qu'il est encore aujourd'hui, non seulement chez les 
' G-aures, mais encore chez les Tartares, les Chinois, et 
' dans I'Amerique chez les Mexiquains. II pouvoit 
' encore en aj outer d'autres.' 

Among the ancient Prussians a perpetual fire was 
kept up in honour of the god Potrimpos, and if it was 
allowed to go out, the priest in charge was burnt to 
death/ 

The Ainos of Yesso ^ have many gods ; but Jire, not 
' the sun, the moon, or the stars, is the principal one, and 
' they are accustomed to pray to it, in general terms, for 
'all they may need.'^ 'Many Tunguz, Mongol, and 
' Turk tribes,' says Tylor, ' sacrifice to fire, and some 
' clans will not eat meat without first throwing a morsel 
' upon the hearth.' ^ 

The Natchez and Cherokees * had a temple in which 
they kept up a perpetual fire.^ The Ojibwas ^ main- 
tained ' a continued fire as a symbol of their nationaUty. 
' They maintained, also, a civil polity, which, however 
' was much mixed up with their religious and medicinal 

1 Voigt, Gesch. Preussens, vol. i. ^ Prichard's Nat. Hist, of Man, 
p. 582. Scliweuk, Die Mythol. der 1855, vol. ii. p. 535. 

Slawen, p. 55. '' Lafitau, vol. i. p. 167. 

2 Bickmore, Trans. Ethn. Soc, ^ Warren in Schoolcraft's Indian 
voL.vii. p. 20. Tribes, vol, ii. p. 138. See also 

3 Tylor's Primitive Culture, vol. Whipple's Report on Indian Tribes, 
ii. p. 254. p. 36. 



SUN AND MOON W0B8HIP 319 

' beliefs.' In Mexico also we find the same idea of 
sacred fire. Colonel McLeod has seen the sacred fire 
still kept burning in some of the valleys of South 
Mexico.-^ At the great festival of Xiuhmolpia, the 
priests and people went in procession to the mountain 
of Huixachtecatl ; then an unfortunate victim was 
stretched on the ' stone of sacrifice,' and killed by a 
priest with a knife of obsidian ; the dish made use of to 
kindle the new fire was then placed on the wound, and 
fire was obtained by friction.^ 

In Peru ^ ' the sacred flame was entrusted to the care 
' of the Virgins of the Sun ; and if, by any neglect, it 
' was sufibred to go out in the course of the year, the 
^ event was regarded as a calamity that boded some 
^ strange disaster to the monarchy.' 

Fire is also reo;arded as sacred amons^ the Damaras ^ 
and in Congo, and in Dahome Zo is the fire fetich. A 
pot is placed in a room and sacrifice is offered to it, that 
fire may ' live ' there.^ 

No one can wonder that the worship of sun, moon, 
and stars is very widely distributed. It can, however, 
scarcely be regarded as of a higher character than the 
preceding forms of Totemism ; it is unknown in Aus- 
tralia, and almost so in Polynesia. 

In hot countries the sun is generally regarded as an 
evil, and in cold as a beneficent, being. It was the 
chief object of religious worship among the Natchez,^ 

1 Jour. Ethn. Soc, 1869, p. 225. Ges. der Mensch., vol. i. p. 276. 
See also p. 246. ^ Anderson's Lake Ngami, p. 223. 

■^ Humboldt's Researclies, Lon- ^ Burton's Dahome, vol. ii. p. 

don, 1824, vol. i. pp. 225, 382. See 148. 

also Lafitau, vol. i. p. 170. Garci- ^ Robertson's America, bk. iv. 

lasso de la Vega, vol. ii. p. 162. p. 126. 

3 Prescott, vol. i. p. 99. Wuttke, 



320 AMEUIGA 

and was also worshipped by the Navajos, and other 
allied tribes in North America.^ Among the Comanches 
of Texas ' the sun, moon, and earth are the principal 
' objects of worship.'^ Lafitau observes that the Ame- 
rican Eedskins did not worship the stars and planets, 
but only the sun.^ In North- West America, however, 
the Ahts worship both the sun and moon, but especially 
the latter. They regard the sun as ferainine and the 
moon as masculine, being, moreover, the husband of the 
sun."* The Kaniagmioutes consider them to be brother 
and sister.^ It has been said that the Esquimaux of 
Greenland used to worship the sun. This, however, 
seems more than doubtful, and Crantz ^ expressly denies 
the statement. 

The Peruvians worshipped the sun, making to it 
offerings of drink in a vessel of gold, and declaring ' that 
' what appeared to be gone had been drunk by the sun, 
' and they said truly, for the sun's heat had evaporated 
' the liquor.' ^ We are told, however, that the Inea 
Huayna Capac questioned this, asking if it was likely 
that the sun, if a god, would go over the same course 
day after day. ' If he were supreme Lord he would 
' occasionally go aside from his course, or rest for his 
^ pleasure, even though he might have no necessity what- 
' ever for doing so.' ^ The moon was held to be sister 
and wife of the sun. Garcilasso states that she had no 

^ Whipple's Report on Indian ^ pinart, Revue d'Antliropolo- 

Tribes, p. 36. Lafitau, vol. ii. p. gie, 1873, p. 678. 

189. Tertre's History of the Oaribby "^ Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 196. See 

Islands, p. 236. Graah's Voyage to Greenland, p. 

^ Neighbors, in Schoolcraft's 124. 

Indian Tribes, vol. ii. p. 127. ^ Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. ii. 

3 Loc. cit. vol. i. p. 146. pp. 60, 131 ; vol. i. p. 271. 

^ Sproat's Scenes and Studies of ^ Loc. cit. p. 446. Molina, 

Savage Life, p. 206. Fables and Rites of the Incas, p. 11. 



d 



AMEBIGA—ASIA 321 

separate temple, and that no sacrifices were offered to 
her.^ They also worshipped several of the stars, which 
they regarded as attendants on the moon.^ 

In Brazil the Coroados worship the sun and moon, 
the moon being the more powerful.^ The Abipones ^ 
thought that they were descended from the Pleiades ; 
and 'as that constellation disappears at certain periods 
' from the sky of South America, upon such occasions 
' they suppose that their grandfather is sick, and are 
' under a yearly apprehension that he is going to die ; 
' but as soon as those seven stars are again visible in 
' the month of May, they welcome their grandfather, as 
' if returned and restored from sickness, with joyful 
' shouts, and the festive sound of pipes and trumpets, 
' congratulating him on the recovery of his health.' 

In Central India sun-worship prevails among many 
of the Hill tribes. ^ The worship of the sun as the 
' Supreme Deity is the foundation of the religion of the 
' Hos and Oraons as well as of the Moondahs. By the 
' former he is invoked as Dhurmi, the Holy One. He 
' is the Creator and the Preserver ; and, with reference 
' to his purity, white animals are offered to him by his 
' votaries.' ^ The sun and moon are both regarded as 
deities by the Korkus,^ Khonds,^ Tunguses,^ and 
Buraets.^ In Northern Asia the Samoyedes, the Mor- 



^ Loc. cit. vol. i. pp. 103, 275. '^ Forbes Leslie's Early Races of 

- Loc. cit. pp. 275, 183, 176. Scotland, vol. ii. p. 496. Campbell, 

^ Spix and Martins, vol. ii. p. 243. Wild Tribes of Khondistan, p. 120. 
^ Dobritzlioffer, loc. cit. vol. ii. ^ Bell's Travels from St. Peters- 

p. 65. burg, vol. i. p. 274. 

'" Colonel Dalton, Trans. Ethn. ^ Klemm, Cult. d.Mensch. vol. iii. 

Soc, vol. vi. p. 33. pp. 101, 109. Miiller, Des. de toutes 

*' Forsyth's Highlands of Central les Nat. de I'Empire Russe, pt. iii. 

India, p. 146. p. 25. 



322 SUNDRY W0B8HIP8 

duans, the Tschuwasches and other tribes worshipped 
the sun and moon. 

In Western Africa moon- worship is very prevalent. 
' At the appearance of every new moon,' says MeroUa.^ 
' these people fall on their knees, or else cry out, stand- 
' ing and clapping their hands, " So may I renew my 
' " life as thou art renewed." ' They do not, however, 
appear to venerate either the sun or the stars. Bruce 
also mentions moon- worship as occurring among the 
Shangallas.^ Further south the Bechuanas ' watch more 
' eagerly for the first glimpse of the new moon, and 
' when they perceive the faint outline after the sun has 
' set deep in the west, they utter a loud shout of " Kua ! " 
' and vociferate prayers to it.' ^ Herodotus ^ mentions 
that the Atarantes used to curse the sun as he passed 
over their heads. 

It is remarkable that the heavenly bodies do not 
appear to be worshipped by the Polynesians. The 
natives of Erromango, however, according to Mr. 
Brenchiey, worship the moon, having stone images of 
the form of new and full moons.^ According to Lord 
Karnes, 'the inhabitants of Celebes formerly acknow- 
' ledged no gods but the sun and moon.' ^ The people 
of Borneo are said to have done the same. 

The worship of ancestors is a natural development 
of the dread of ghosts, and is another widely distributed 
form of religious belief ; which, however, I shall not 

^ Voyage to Congo, Pinkerton, Africa, p. 235. 

vol. XV. p. 273. 4 Herodotus, iv. 184. 

2 Travels, vol. iv. p. 35 ; vol. vi. -^ Cruise of the ' Cura^oa,' p. 320. 

p. 344. ^ History of Man, vol. iv. p. 252. 

^ Livingstone's Journeys in South 



SUNDBY WORSHIPS 323 

enter into here, as it may be more conveniently con- 
sidered when we come to deal with Idolatry. 

These are the principal deities of man in this stao-e 
of his religious development. They are, however, as 
already mentioned, by no means the only ones. 

The heavens and earth, thunder, lightning, and 
winds were regarded as deities in various parts of the 
world. The Scythians worshipped an iron scimetar as 
a symbol of the war- god ; ' to this scimetar they bring 
" yearly sacrifices of cattle and horses ; and to these 
' scimetars they offer more sacrifices than to the rest of 
' their gods.' ^ In the Sagas many of the swords have 
special names, and are treated with the greatest respect. 
Similarly the Fijians regarded ' certain clubs with 
' superstitious respect ; ' ^ and the negroes of Irawo, a 
town in Western Yoruba, worshipped an iron bar with 
very expensive ceremonies.^ The* New Zealanders, 
some of the Melanesians, and the Dahomans worshipped 
the rainbow."^ 

When Mr. Williams was murdered at Dillon's Bay, 
a piece of red sealing-wax which they found in his 
pocket ' was supposed by the natives to be some port- 
*able god, and was carefully buried.' ^ 

In Central India, as mentioned in p. 290, a great 
variety of inanimate objects are treated as deities. The 
Todas are said to worship a buffalo -bell. ^ The Kotas 
worship two silver plates, which they regard as husband 

1 Herodotus, iv. 62. See also * Burton's Mission to Dahome, 

Klemm, Werkzeuge und WafFen, vol. ii. p. 148. Trans. Etlin. Soc, 

p. 225. 1870, p. 367. 

^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. '" Turner's Nineteen Years in 

p. 219. ■ Polynesia, p. 487. 

^ Burton's Abbeokuta, vol. i. ^' The Tribes of the Neilgherries^ 

p. 192. p. 15. 

t2 



324 SUNDRY WORSHIPS 

and wife ; ' they have no other deity.' ^ The Kurumbas 
worshijD stones, trees, and anthills.^ The Toreas, 
another Neilgherry Hill tribe, worship especially a ' gold 
' nose-ring, which probably once belonged to one of their 
' women.' ^ According to Nonnius, the sacred lyre sang 
the victory of Jupiter over the Titans, without being 
touched.* Many other inanimate objects have also been 
worshipped. De Brosses mentions an instance of a king 
of hearts being made into a deity,^ and according to 
some of the earlier travellers in America, even the rattle 
was regarded as a deity.^ 

Thus, then, I have attempted to show that animals 
and plants, water, mountains, and stones, fire, the 
heavenly bodies, and a variety of other objects, are, or 
have been, all very extensively and often simultane- 
ously worshipped, so that they do not form the basis of 
a natural classification of religions. 



1 The Tribes of the Neilgherries, 


p. 67. 


p. 114. 


4 Lafitau, vol. i. p. 205. 


2 Trans. Ethn. Soc, yoL vii. 


5 Loc, cit. p. 62. 


p. 278. 


« Ibid. p. 211. 


3 The Tribes of the Neilgherries, 





325 



CHAPTER YIIL 

RELIGION {concluded). 

HAVING thus given my reasons for regarding as 
unsatisfactory the classifications of religions which 
have been adopted hitherto, I will now endeavour to 
trace ujd the gradual evolution of religious beliefs, begin- 
ning with the Australians, who possess merely certain 
vague ideas as to the existence of evil spirits, and a 
general dread of witchcraft. This belief cannot be said 
to influence them by day, but it renders them very un- 
willing to quit the camp-fire by night, or to sleep near 
a grave. They have no idea of creation, nor do they 
use prayers ; they have no religious forms, ceremonies, 
or worship. They do not believe in the existence of 
a true Deity,^ nor is morality in any way connected 
with their religion, if such it can be called. The words 
^ good ' or 'bad' had reference to taste or bodily com- 
fort and did not convey any idea of right or wrong.^ 
Another curious notion of the Australians is, that white 
men are blacks who have risen from the dead. This 
idea was founded among the natives north of Sydney as 
early as 1795, and can scarcely, therefore, be of missionary 
origin.^ It occurs also among the negroes of Guinea, 

^ Report of the Committee of the Australia, vol. ii, pp. 354, 365, 356. 
Legislative Council on Aborigines, ^ Collins' English Colony in N.S. 

Victoria, 1859, pp. 9, 69, 77. Wales, p. 303. 

^ Eyre's Discoveries in Central 



326 BELIGIONS OF AUSTRALIANS 

New Caledonia, and elsewhere.^ The opinions of the 
Australians on such points, however, seem to have been 
very various and confused. They had certainly no 
general and definite view on the subject. 

As regards the North Australians we have trust- 
worthy accounts given by a Scotchwoman, Mrs. 
Thomson, who was wrecked on the Prince of Wales 
Island. Her husband and the rest of the crew were 
drowned, but she was saved by the natives, and lived 
w^ith them nearly five years until the visit of the 
' Rattlesnake,' when she escaped with some difficulty. 
On the whole she was kindly treated by the men, 
though the women were long jealous of her, and be- 
haved towards her with uiuch cruelty. These people 
had no idea of a Supreme Being.^ They did not 
believe in the immortality of the soul, but held that 
they are ' after death changed into white people or 
' Europeans, and as such pass the second and final 
' period of their existence ; nor is it any part of their 
' creed that future rewards and punishments are 
' awarded.' ^ 

Mrs. Thomson was supposed to be the ghost of 
Giom, a daughter of a man named Piaquai, and when 
she was teased by children, the men would often tell 
them to leave her alone, saying, ' Poor thing ! she is 
' nothing — only a ghost.' This, however, did not 
prevent a man named Boroto making her his wife, which 
shows how little is actually implied in the statement 
that Australians believe in spirits. They really do 

^ Smith's Guiuea, p. 215. Bos- ^ Macgillivray's Voyage of the 

man, Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. xvi. ' Rattlesnake,' vol. ii. p. 29. 
P- 401. 3 ^(,^_ p^Y. p. 29. 



VEBBAES— GALIFOBNIANS 327 

no more than believe in the existence of men some- 
what different from, and a little more powerful than, 
themselves. The South Australians, as described by 
Stephens, had no religious rites, ceremonies, or worship ; 
no idea of a Supreme Being, but a vague dread of evil 
spirits.-^ 

The Veddahs of Ceylon, according to Davy, believe 
in evil beings, but ' have no idea of a supreme and 
' beneficent God, or of a state of future existence, or of 
^ a system of rewards and punishments ; and, in conse- 
^ quence, they are of opinion that it signifies little 

* whether they do good or evil.' ^ 

The Indians of California have been well described 
by Father Baegert, a Jesuit missionary, who lived 
among them no less than seventeen years.^"^ As to 
government or religion, he says,^ ^ neither the one nor 
^ the other existed among them. They had no magis- 
' trates, no police, and no laws ; idols, temples, religious 
^ worship, or ceremonies were unknown to them, and 
^ they neither believed in the true and only God nor 
^ adored false deities. 

' I made diligent inquiries among those with whom 

* I lived, to ascertain whether they had any conception 
' of God, a future life, and their own souls, but I never 
' could discover the slightest trace of such a knowledge. 
' Their language has no words for " God " and " soul," 
' for which reason the missionaries were compelled to 
^ use in their sermons and religious instructions the 

* Spanish words Dios and alma. It could hardly be 

^ Stephens' South Australia, Halh. Oalifornie, 1773. Translated 

p. 78. in Smithsonian Reports, 1863-4. 
^ Davy's Ceylon, p. 118. '^ Smithsonian Reports, 1864, 

^ Nachrichten von der Amer. p. 390. 



328 BELIGIOUS IDEAS OF TEE GALIFOBNIANS 

' otherwise with people who thought of nothing but 
' eating and merry-making, and never reflected on 
' serious matters, but dismissed everything that lay be- 
' yond the narrow compass of their conceptions with the 
' phrase aipekeriri, which means, " Who knows that ? " 
' I often asked them whether they had never put to 
' themselves the question who might be the Creator 
' and Preserver of the sun, moon, stars, and other ob- 
'jects of nature, but was always sent home with a vara, 
' which means '' no " in their language.' 

Mr. Gibbs, speaking of the Indians living in the 
valleys drained by the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, 
says : ' One of this tribe, who had been for three or four 
' years among the whites, and accompanied the expedi- 
' tion, on being questioned as to his own belief in a 
^ Deity, acknowledged his entire ignorance on the sub- 
' ject. As regarded a future state of any kind, he was 
' equally uninformed and indifferent ; in fact, did not 
' believe in any for himself. As a reason why his 
' people did not go to another country after death, 
' while the whites might, he assigned that the Indians 
' burned their dead, and he supposed there was an end 
' of them.' ^ 

The religion of the Bachapins, a Kaffir tribe, has 
been described by Burchell. They had no outward 
worship, nor, so far as he could learn, any private 
devotion; indeed, they had no belief in a beneficent 
Deity, though they feared an evil being called ' Mu- 
' leemo,' or ' Murirao.' Thev had no idea of creation. 
Even when Burchell suggested it to them, they did not 
attribute it to Muleemo, but ' asserted that everything 

' Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, vol. iii. p. 107. 



BA CHAPIXS—EAFFIBS 329 

^ made Itself, and that trees and herbage grew by their 
' own will.' ^ They believed in sorcery, and in the 
efficacy of amulets. 

Dr. Yanderkemp, the first missionary to the Kaffirs, 
' never could perceive that they had any religion, or any 
^ idea of the existence of God.' Mr. Moffatt also, who 
lived in South Africa as a missionary for many years, 
says that they were utterly destitute of theological 
ideas ; and Dr. Gardner, in his 'Faiths of the World,' 
concludes as follows : - ' From all that can be ascertained 
' on the religion of the Kaffirs, it seems that those of 
'' them who are still in their heathen state have no idea 
' (1) of a Supreme Intelligent Ruler of the universe ; 
' (2) of a sabbath ; (3) of a day of judgment ; (4) of 
' the guilt and pollution of sin ; (5) of a Saviour to 
' deliver them from the wrath to come.' 

The Eev. Canon Callaway has recently published 
a very interesting memoir on ' The Religious System of 
' the Amazulu,' who are somewhat more advanced in 
their religious conceptions. The first portion is entitled 
' Unkulunkulu, or the Tradition of Creation.' It does 
not, however, appear that Unkulunkulu is regarded as 
a Creator, or even as a Deity at all. He is simply the 
first man. the Zulu Adam. Some complication arises 
from the fact that not only the ancestor of all mankind, 
but also the first of each tribe, is called Unkulunkulu, 
so that there are many Onkulunkulu, or Unkulunkulus. 
None of them, however, have any of the characters of 
Deity ; no prayers or sacrifices are offered to them ; ^ 
indeed, they no longer exist, having been long dead.^ 

^ Travels, vol. ii. p. 550. ^ Loc. cit. pp. 9^ 25, 34, 75. 

- Loc. cit. p. 260. ^ Loc. cit. pp. 15, 83, Q2. 



330 KAFFIB8 

Unkulimkulu was in no sense a Creator/ nor, indeed, 
is any special power attributed to him.^ He, i.e. man, 
arose from ' Uthlanga,' that is ' a bed of reeds,' but 
how be did so no one knew.^ Mr. Callaway agrees 
with Casalis, that ' it never entered the heads of the 
' Zulus that the earth and sky might be the work of an 
' invisible being.' ^ One native thought the white men 
made the world.^ They had, indeed, no idea of or 
name for God.^ When Moffatt endeavoured to explain 
to a chief about God he exclaimed, ' Would that I could 
' catch it ! I would transfix it with my spear ; ' yet this 
was a man ' whose judgment on other subjects would 
^ command attention.' ^ 

Yet they are not without a belief in invisible beings. 
This is founded partly on the shadow, but principally 
on the dream. They regard the shadow as in some way 
the spirit which accompanies the body (reminding us of 
the similar idea among the Greeks), and they have a 
curious notion that a dead body casts no shadow.^ 

Still more important has been the influence of 
dreams. When a dead father or brother appears to a 
man in his sleep he does not doubt the reality of the 
occurrence, and hence concludes that their spirits still 
live. As, however, they rarely dream about their 
grandfathers, they suppose them to be dead.^ 

Diseases are regarded as being often caused by the 
spirits of discontented relatives. 

In Samoa it was supposed that the spirits of the 

1 Loc. cit. p. 137. 6 j^Qc^ ^^^ pp^ 207, 113, 136. 

2 Loc. cit. p. 48. ' Loc. cit. p. 111. 
' Loc. cit. pp. 9, 40. 8 Loc. cit. p. 91. 

^ Loc. cit. pp. 54, 108. ^ Loc. cit. p. 15. 

* Loc. cit. p. 55. 



SFIBIT8 OF TEE BEPABTED 331 

departed ' had power to return and canse disease and 
' death in other members of the family. Hence, all 
' were anxious as a person drew near the close of life to 
' part on good terms with him, feeling assured that, 
' if he died with angry feelings towards any one, he 
' would certainly return, and bring some calamity upon 
^ that very person or some one closely allied to him.' ^ 

A case is on record in which a Brahman put his 
mother to death, not only with the old woman's con- 
sent, but at her own request, in order that her spirit 
might punish a neighbour who had offended her. 

In other respects these spirits are not regarded as 
possessing any special powers ; though prayed to, it is 
not in such a manner as to indicate a belief that they 
have any supernatural influence, and they are clearly 
not regarded as immortal. In some cases departed spirits 
are regarded as reappearing in the form of snakes,^ 
which may be known from ordinary snakes by certain 
signs,^ such as their frequenting huts, not eating mice, 
and showing no fear of man. Sometimes a snake is 
recognised as the representative of a given man by some 
peculiar mark or scar, the absence of an eye, or some 
other similar point of resemblance. 

In such cases sacrifices are sometimes offered to the 
snake, and, when a bullock is killed, part is put away 
for the use of the dead, or Amatongo, who are specially 
invited to the feast, whose assistance is requested, and 
wrath deprecated. Yet this can hardly be called 
' ancestor-worship.' The dead have, it is true, the ad- 
vantage of invisibility, but they are not regarded as 

^ Turner's Nineteen Years in ^ Zoc. cit. p. 8. 

Polynesia, p. 236. ^ Loc. cit. pp. 198, 199. 



332 FBTIGEISM 

omnipresent, omnipotent, or immortal. There are even 
means by which troublesome spirits may be destroyed 
or ' laid.' ^ In such cases as these, then, we see religion 
in a very low phase ; that in which it consists merely 
of belief in the existence of evil beings, less material 
than we are, but mortal like ourselves, and if more 
powerful than man in some respects, even less so in 
others. 

FETICHISM. 

In the Fetichism of the negro, Keligion, if it can be 
so called, is systematised, and greatly raised in import- 
ance. Nevertheless from another point of view Fetich- 
ism may almost be regarded as an anti-religion. It 
has hitherto been defined as the worship of material 
substances. This does not seem to me to be its true 
characteristic. Fetichism is not truly a form of ' wor- 
' ship ' at all. For the negro believes that by means of 
the fetich he can coerce and control his deity. In fact, 
Fetichism is mere witchcraft. We have already seen 
{ante^ p. 250) that magicians all over the world think 
that if they can obtain a part of an enemy the possession 
of it gives them a power over him. Even a bit of his 
clothing will answer the purpose, or, if this cannot be 
got, it seems to them natural that an inj ury even to his 
image would affect the original. That is to say, a man 
who can destroy or torture the image thus inflicts pain 
on the original, and this, being magical, is independent 
of the power of that original, ^.yqyl in Europe, and in 
the eleventh century, some unfortunate Jews were ac- 
cused of having murdered a certain Bishop Eberhard 

1 Loc. cit. p. 160. 



HINDOSTAN 833 

in this way. They made a wax image of him, had it 
baptized, and then burnt it, and so the bishop died. 

Lord Karnes says that at the time of Catherine de 
Medicis ' it was common to take the resemblance of 
' enemies in wax, in order to torment them by roasting 
' the figure at a slow fire, and pricking it with needles.' ^ 

In India, says Dubois,^ ' a quantity of mud is 
^ moulded into small figures, on the breasts of which 
' they write the name of the persons whom they mean 
' to annoy. . . . They pierce the images with thorns or 
' mutilate them, so as to communicate a corresponding 
' injury to the person represented.' 

Now, it seems to me that Fetichism is an extension 
of this belief. The negro supposes that the possession 
of a fetich representing a spirit makes that spirit his 
servant. We know that the negroes beat their fetich 
if their prayers are unanswered, and I believe they 
seriously think they thus inflict sufi'ering on the actual 
deity. Thus the fetich cannot fairly be called an idol. 
The same image or object may indeed be a fetich to one 
man and an idol to another ; yet the tw^o are essentially 
different in their nature. An idol is indeed an object 
of worship, while, on the contrary, a fetich is intended 
to bring the deity within the control of man — an attempt 
which is less absurd than it at first sight appears, when 
considered in connection with their low religious ideas. 
If, then, witchcraft be not confused with religion, as I 
think it ought not to be, Fetichism can hardly be called 
a religion ; to the true spirit of wdiich it is indeed 
entirely opposed. 

^ Lord Karnes' History of Man, vol. iv. p. 261. 
-^ Loc. cit. p. 347. 



334 NBGEOBS 

Anything will do for a fetich ; it need not represent 
the human figure, though it may do so. Even an ear 
of maize will answer the purpose. ' If,' said an intelligent 
neo-ro to Bosman,"^ ' any of us is resolved to undertake 
' anything of importance, we first of all search out a god 
' to prosper our designed undertaking ; and, going out 
' of doors with this design, take the first creature that 
' presents itself to our eyes, whether dog, cat, or the 
' most contemptible animal in the world, for our god ; 
' or, perhaps, instead of that, any inanimate object that 
^ falls in our way, whether a stone, or piece of wood, or 
^ anything else of the same nature. This new-chosen 
' god is immediately presented with an offering, which 
' is accompanied with a solemn vow, that if he pleaseth 
' to prosper our undertakings for the future we will 
' always worship and esteem him as a god. If our de- 
' sign prove successful, we have discovered a new and 
' assisting god, which is daily presented with fresh 
' offerings ; but if the contrary happen, the new god is 
' rejected as a useless tool, and consequently returns to 
' his primitive estate. We make and break our gods 
' daily, and consequently are the masters and inventors 
' of what we sacrifice to.' 

The term Fetichism is generally connected with the 
negro race, but a corresponding state of mind exists in 
many other parts of the world. In fact, it may almost 
be said to be universal, since it is nothing more nor less 
than witchcraft ; and in the most advanced countries — 
even in our own — the behef in witchcraft has scarcely 
been entirely eradicated. 

^ Bosman'a Guinea, Pinkerton's Loyer (3701), Astley's Collection, 
Voyages, vol. xvi. p. 493. See also vol. ii. p. 440. 



FETIGRISM IN OTHER RACES 335 

The Badagas (Hindostan), according to Metz, are 
still in a ' condition little above Feticliism. Any thin o* 
' with them may become an object of adoration, if the 
' head man or the village priest should take a fancy to 
' deify it. As a necessary consequence, however, of this 
' state of things, no real respect is entertained towards 
' their deities, and it is not an uncommon thing to hear 
' the people call them liars, and use opprobrious epithets 
' respecting them.' ^ Again, speaking of the Chota Nag- 
pore tribes of Central India, Colonel Dalton observes 
that certain ' peculiarities in the paganism of the Oraon, 
' and only practised by Moondahs who lived in the same 
' village mth them, appear to me to savour thoroughly 
' of Fetichism.' ^ 

In Jeypore^ the body of a small musk-rat is re- 
garded as a powerful talisman. ' The body of this 
' animal, dried, is enclosed in a case of brass, silver, or 
' gold, according to the means of the individual, and is 
' slung around the neck, or tied to the arm, to render 
' the individual proof against all evil, not excepting 
' sword and other cuts, musket-shot, &c.' The Abors of 
Bengal worship trees, and if misfortunes occur, ' they 
' retaliate on the S2:)irits by cutting down trees.' ^ 

In all these cases the tribes seem to me to be naturally 
in the state of Fetichism, disguised, however, and 
modified by fragments of the higher Hindoo religions, 
which they have adopted without understanding, 

The Ostyaks have fetiches to which they offer prayers 



1 The Tribes of the Neilgherries, ^ Shortt, Trans. Ethn. Soc, vol. 
p. 60. vi. p. 278. 

2 Trans. Ethn. Soc.jN.S., vol. vi. ^^ Dalton, Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 
p. 83. p. 25. 



336 INDIA— NORTH AMERICA 

and sacrifices. But if these are ineffectual they abuse, 
beat, and even mutilate them/ 

ThouDfh the Redskins of North America have reached 
a higher state of religious development, they still retain 
fetiches in the form of ' medicine-bags.' ' Every Indian,' 
says Catlin,^ ' in his primitive state, carries his medicine- 
' bag in some form or other,' and to it he looks for pro- 
tection, and safety. ' The nature of the medicine-bag is 
' thus determined : At fourteen or fifteen years of age 
' the boy wanders away alone upon the prairie, where he 
' remains two, three, four, or even ^yq days, lying on the 
' ground musing and fasting. He remains awake as long 
' as he can, but when he sleeps the first animal of which 
' he dreams becomes his '' medicine." As soon as possible 
' he shoots an animal of the species in question, and 
' makes a medicine-bag of the skin. To this he looks for 
' protection, to this he sacrifices ; unlike the fickle negro, 
' however, the Redskin never changes his fetich. To him it 
' becomes anemblemof success, like the shield of the Greek, 
' or the more modern sword, and to lose it is disgrace.' 

The Columbian Indians have small figures in the 
form of a quadruped, bird, or fish. These, though called 
idols, are rather fetiches, because, as all disease is attri- 
buted to them, when anyone is ill they are beaten to- 
gether, and the first which loses a tooth or claw is sup- 
posed to be the culprit.^ 

In China,^ also, the lower people, ' if, after long 
' praying to their images, they do not obtain what they 
' desire, as it often happens, they turn them off as im- 

^ Hist. des.Decouvertes dans plus. ^ Dunn's Oregon, p. 125. 

contr. de la Russie, vol. iii. p. 147. "^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, 

2 American Indians, vol. i. p. 86. vol. iv. p. 218. 



CHINA 337 

potent gods ; others use them in a most reproachful 
manner, loading them with hard names, and sometimes 
with blows. " How now, dog of a spirit ! " say they 
to them ; ''we give yon a lodging in a magnificent 
"temple, we gild you handsomely, feed you well, and 
'' offer incense to you ; yet, after all this care, you are 
'' so ungrateful as to refuse us what we ask of you." 
Hereupon they tie this image with cords, pluck him 
down, and drag him along the streets, through all the 
mud and dunghills, to punish him for the expense of 
perfume which they have thrown away upon him. If 
in the meantime it happens that they obtain their re- 
quest, then, with a great deal of ceremony, they wash 
him clean, carry him back, and place him in his niche 
again ; where they fall down to him, and make ex- 
cuses for what they have done. " In a truth," say 
they, " we were a little too hasty, as well as you were 
" somewhat too long in your grant. Why should you 
'' brino; this beatino; on vourself ? But what is done 
'' cannot be now undone ; let us not therefore think of 
" it any more. If you will forget what is past, we will 
'' gild you over again." ' 

Pallas, speaking of the Ostyaks, states that, ' Malgre 
la veneration et le respect qu'ils ont pour leurs idoles, 
malheur a elles lorsqu'il arrive un malheur a I'Ostyak, 
et que I'idole n'y remedie pas. II la jette alors par 
terre, la frappe, la maltraite, et la brise en morceaux. 
Cette correction arrive frequemment. Cette colere est 
commune a tous les peuples idolatres de la Siberie.' ^ 
M tiller also^ makes very similar statements. Dr. 

^ Pallas' Voyages, vol. iv. p. 79. 

- Des. de toutes les Nat. de TEmp. Kusse, pt. iii. p. 151. 



338 MAD A GA SGA B— AFRICA 

Gerland, in the continuation of Waitz's ' Anthropologie,' 
mentions several cases of Fetichism in Polynesia/ 

In Madagascar a small basket was in every house 
hung against the northern roof-post, and in it was 
placed the fetich, which was sometimes a stone, some- 
times a leaf, a flower or a piece of wood. This ' is the 
' household '' sampy," or charm, which is trusted in and 
* prayed to as a protection from evil.' ^ 

In Whydah (Western Africa), and I believe gene- 
rally, the negroes will not eat the animal or plant which 
they have chosen for their fetich.^ In Issini, on the 
contrary, ' eating the fetich ' is a solemn ceremony on 
taking an oath, or as a token of friendship.^ 

Fetichism, strictly speaking, has no temples, idols, 
priests, sacrifices, or prayer. It involves no belief in 
creation or in a future life, and a foiHiori none in a state 
of rewards and punishments. It is entirely independent 
of morality. In most, however, of the powerful negro 
monarchies, religion has made some progress in organi- 
sation ; but though we find both sacred buildings and 
priests, the religion itself shows little, if a,ny, intellectual 
improvement. 



TOTEMISM. 

The next stage in religious progress is that which 
may be called Totemism. The savage does not abandon 
his belief in Fetichism, from which, indeed, no race of 
men has yet entii'ely freed itself ; but he superinduces 

1 Log. cit. vol. vi. pp. 322, 341. ^ Phillips, 1693. Astley, vol. ii. 

^ Sibree's Madagascar and its p. 411. 
People, p. 204. 4 Loyer, 1701, loc. cit. p. 436. 



I 



T0TEMI8M 339 

on it a belief in beings of a higher and less material 
nature. In this stage everything may be worshipped 
— trees, stones, rivers, mountains, the heavenly bodies, 
and animals : but the hiofher deities are no lona'er re- 
garded as liable to be controlled by witchcraft. Still 
they are not regarded as Creators ; they do not reward 
virtue, or punish vice. The spirits of the departed have 
before them a weary and dangerous journey, and many 
perish by the way ; heaven, however, seems to be merely 
a distant part of the earth. 

Even the deities still inhabit this earth ; they are 
part of nature, not supernatural ; in fact, we may say 
that in Fetichism the deities are non-human, in Totem- 
ism superhuman, but do not become supernatural until 
a still further stage of mental development. 

Again, Totemism is a deification of classes ; the fetich 
is an individual. The negro who has, let us say, an ear 
of maize as a fetich, values that particular ear, more or 
less as the case may be, but has no feeling for maize as 
a species. On the contrary, the Redskin who regards 
the bear, or the wolf, as his totem, feels that he is in 
intimate, though mysterious, association with the whole 
species. 

The name ' Totemism ' is of North American origin, 
and is primarily used to denote the form of religion 
widely prevalent among the Redskins of that continent^ 
but similar religious views are held in various other 
parts of the world. 

In order to realise clearly the essential characteristics 
of the religions of different races, we must bear in mind 
that at the stage at which we have now arrived in 
the course of our enquiry, the modifications of which a 

z 2 



340 TOTEMISM 

religion is susceptible may be divided into two classes, 
viz. developmental and adaptational, or adaptive. 1 
use the term ' developmental ' to signify those changes 
which arise from the intellectual progress of the race. 
Thus a more elevated idea of the Deity is a develop- 
mental change. On the other hand, a Northern people 
is apt to look on the sun as a beneficent deity, while to 
a tropical race it would suggest drought and destruc- 
tion. Again, hunters tend to worship the moon, agri- 
culturists the sun. These I call adaptational modifica- 
tions. They are changes produced, not by difi'erence of 
race or of civilisation, but by physical causes. 

In some cases the character of the language has pro- 
bably exercised much influence over that of religion. 
No one, for mstance, can fail to be struck by the difi*er- 
ences existing between the Aryan and Semitic religions. 
All Aryan races have a complicated mythology, which 
is not the case with Semitic races. Moreover, the 
character of the gods is quite difi'erent. The latter have 
El, Strong, Bel or Baal, Lord ; Adonis, Lord ; Shet, 
Master ; Moloch, King ; Ram and Rimmon, the Exalted ; 
and other similar names for their deities. The Aryans, 
on the contrary, Zeus, the sky ; Phoebus Apollo, the 
sun ; Neptune, the sea ; Mars, war ; Venus, beauty, &c. 
Max Miiller ^ has very ingeniously endeavoured to ex- 
plain this difi'erence by the different character of the 
language in these two races. 

As a general rule nations in whose languages the 
division of the nouns into classes has no reference to the 
distinctions of sex, possess no mythology ; and though 
there are some apparent exceptions, it is probable, as 

^ See Miiller's Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i. p. 363. 



CONTRAST OF ABYAN AND SEMITIC UELIGION 341 

Dr. Bleek, has suggested,^ that in such cases the ' lan- 
' guages, if not at the present day sex-denoting, may 
' formerly have been so,' and that thus the presence of 
inherited mythological ideas in a nation may give evi- 
dence of a former state of its language, a state of which 
all other evidence may have now disappeared. 

Among the Finns, ' Youmala,' the sky, was first 
personified, and then at a later period the word came to 
mean any God. 

Again, in Semitic words the root remains always 
distinct and unmistakable. In Aryan, on the contrary, 
it soon becomes altered and disguised. Hence Semitic 
dictionaries are mostly arranged according to the roots, 
a method which in Aryan languages would be most 
inconvenient, the root being often obscure, and in many 
cases doubtful. Now, take such an expression as ' the 
' sky thunders.' In any Semitic tongue the word ' sky' 
would remain unaltered, and so clear in its meaning 
that it would w^ith difficulty come to be thought of as 
a proper name. But among the Aryans the case was 
difi*erent, and we find in the earlier Yedic poetry that 
the names of the Greek gods stand as mere words de- 
noting natural objects. Thus the Sanskrit Dyaus, the 
sky, became the Greek Zeus, and when the Greek said 
Zeus fipovra his idea was not ' the sky thunders,' but 
' Zeus thunders.' When the gods were thus once 
created, the mythology follows as a matter of course. 
Some of the statements may be obscure, but when we 
are told that Hupnos, the god of sleep, was the father 
of Morpheus, the god of dreams ; or that Venus, 

^ On Resemblances in Busliman and Australian Mythology, Cape 
Monthly Magazine, February, 1874. 



342 MYTE8 

married to Yulcan, lost her heart to Mars, and that the 
intrigue was made known to Vulcan by Apollo, the 
sun, we can clearly see how such myths might have 
arisen. 

The attitude of the ancients towards them is very 
interesting. Homer and Hesiod relate them, apparently 
without suspicion, and we may be sure that the un- 
educated pubhc received them without a doubt. So 
crates, however, explains the story that Boreas carried 
off Oreithyia from the Ilissos, to mean that Oreithyia 
was blown off the rocks by the north wind. Ovid also 
says that under the name of Vesta, mere fire is to be 
understood. We can hardly doubt that many others 
also must have clearly perceived the origin of at any 
rate a portion of these myths, but they were probabty 
restrained from expressing their opinion by the dread 
of incurring the odium of heterodoxy. 

One great charm of this explanation is that we thus 
remove soaie of the revolting features of ancient myths. 
Thus, as the sun destroys the darkness from which it 
springs, and at evening disappears in the twilight, so 
Oedipus was fabled to have killed his father, and then 
married his mother. In this way the whole of that 
terrible story may be explained as arising, not from the 
depravity of the human heart, but from a mistaken ap- 
plication of the statement that the sun destroys the 
darkness, and ultimately marries, as it were, the twilight 
from which it sprang. 

But although poetry may thus throw much light on 
the origin of the myths which formed the religion of 
Greece and Rome, it cannot explain the origin or cha- 
racter of religion among the lower savages, because a 



SHAMANISM 343 

mythology such as that of Greece and Rome can only 
arise amongst a people which have already made con- 
siderable progress. True, myths do not occur among 
the lowest races. Even in Madagascar, according to a 
good authority,^ ' there is nothing corresponding to a 
' mythology, or any fables of gods or goddesses, amongst 
' the Malagasy.' Tempting, therefore, as it may be to 
seek in the nature of language and the use of poetical 
expressions an explanation of the religious systems of 
the lower races, and fully admitting the influence which 
these causes have exercised, we must look deeper for 
the origin of religion, and can be satisfied only by an 
explanation which is applicable to the lowest races pos- 
sessing any religious opinions. In the preceding chapters 
I have attempted to do this, and to show how certain 
phenomena, as for instance sleep and dreams, pain, 
disease, and death, have naturally created in the savage 
mind a belief in the existence of mysterious and invisible 
beings. 

SHAMANISM. 

As Totemism overlies Fetichism, so does Shamanism 
overlie Totemism. The word is derived from the name 
used in Siberia, where the ' Shamans ' work themselves 
up into a fury, supposing or pretending that in this con- 
dition they are inspired by the Spirit in whose name they 
speak, and through whose inspiration they are enabled 
to answer questions as well as to foretell the future. 
In the phases of religion hitherto considered, the deities 
(if indeed they deserve the name) are regarded as 

^ Sibree's Madagascar and its People, p. 39(3. 



344 SIBEEIA—TBE ESQUIMAUX 

visible to all, and present amongst us. Shamanism is a 
considerable advance, inasmuch as it presents us with a 
higher conception of religion. Although the name is 
Siberian, the phase of thought is widely distributed, and 
seems to be a necessary stage in the progress of religious 
development. Those who are disposed to adopt the 
view advocated in this work will not be surprised to 
find that ' Shamanism ' is no definite system of theology. 
Wrangel, however, regarding Shamanism as a religion 
in the ordinary sense, was astonished at this. ' It is 
' remarkable,' he says, ' that Shamanism has no dogmas 
' of any kind ; it is not a system taught or handed down 
* from one to another ; though it is so widely spread, it 
' seems to originate with each individual separately, as 
' the fruit of a highly excited imagination, acted upon 
' by external impressions, which closely resemble each 
' other, throughout the deserts of Northern Siberia.' ^ 

It is far from always easy in practice to distinguish 
Shamanism from Totemism on the one hand, and 
Idolatry on the other. The main difference lies in the 
conception of the Deity. In Totemism the deities in- 
habit our earth ; in Shamanism they live generally in a 
world of their own, and trouble themselves little about 
what is passing here. The Shaman, however, is occa- 
sionally honoured by the presence of Deity, or is 
allowed to visit the heavenly regions. 

Among the Esquimaux the ' Angekok ' answers 
precisely to the Shaman. Graah thus describes a scene 
in Greenland. The angekok came in the evening, and, 
'the lamps ^ being extinguished, and skins hung before 

1 Siberia and Polar Sea, p. 123. p. 123. See also Egede's Greenland, 

2 Graah's Voyage to Greenland, p. 183, and Lyon's Journ., p. 359. 



THE ESQUIMAUX 345 

^ the windows (for such arts, for evident reasons, are 
' best practised in the dark), took his station on the 
' floor, close by a well-dried seal-skin there suspended, 
^ and commenced rattling it, beating the tambourine and 
' singing, in which last he was seconded by all present. 
^ From time to time his chant was interrupted by a cry 
^ of " Goie, Goie, Goie, Goie, Goie, Goie! " the meaning 
' of which I did not comprehend, coming first from one 
^ corner of the hut, and then from the other. Presently 
' all was quiet, nothing being heard but the angekok 
^ puffing and blowing as if struggling with something 

* superior to him in strength, and then again a sound 
^ resembling somewhat that of castanets, whereupon 
^ commenced once more the same song as before, and 
' the same cry of " Goie, Goie, Goie! " In this way a 
^ whole hour elapsed before the wizard could make the 
' torngak, or spirit, obey his summons. Come he did, 
' however, at last, and his approach was announced 
^ by a strange rushing sound, very like the sound of 
' a large bird flying beneath the roof. The angekok, 
' still chanting, now proposed his questions, which 
^ were replied to in a voice quite strange to my ears, 

* but which seemed to me to proceed from the en- 
^ trance passage near which the angekok had taken his 
^ station.' 

The account given by Cranz agrees with the above 
in all essential particulars.^ 

Williams ^ gives the following very similar account 
of a scene in Fiji : — ' Unbroken silence follows ; the 

* priest becomes absorbed in thought, and all eyes watch 

^ History of Greenland, vol. i. ^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. 

p. 210. p. 224. 



346 PACIFIG ISLANDS 

him with unblinking steadiness. In a few minutes he 
trembles ; slight distortions are seen in his face, and 
twitching movements in his limbs. These increase to 
a violent muscular action, which spreads until the 
whole frame is strongly convulsed, and the man shivers 
as with a strong ague fit. In some instances this is 
accompanied with murmurs and sobs, the veins are 
greatly enlarged, and the circulation of the blood 
quickened. The priest is now possessed by his god, 
and all his words and actions are considered as no 
longer his own, but those of the deity who has entered 
into him. Shrill cries of '" Koi au, Koi au ! " " It is 1, 
" It is I ! " fill the air, and the god is supposed thus 
to notify his approach. While giving the answer the 
priest's eyes stand out and roll as in a frenzy ; his 
voice is unnatural, his face pale, his lips livid, his 
breathing depressed, and his entire appearance like that 
of a furious madman : the sweat runs from every pore, 
and tears start from his strained eyes ; after which the 
symptoms gradually disappear. The priest looks round 
with a vacant stare, and as the god says, " I depart," 
announces his actual departure by violently flinging 
himself down on the mat, or by suddenly striking the 
ground with his club. The convulsive movements do 
not entirely disappear for some time.' The process 

described by Dobritzhofi'er ^ as occurring among the 

Abipones is also somewhat similar. 

Among the negroes of W. Africa, Brue ^ mentions a 

' prophet ' who pretended ' to be inspired by the Deity 

' in such a manner as to know the most hidden secrets, 

1 History of the Abipones, vol. 2 ^stley's Collection of Voyages, 

ii- p. 73. vol. ii. p. 83. 



AFBIGA 347 

' and go invisible wherever he pleased as well as to 
^ make his voice be heard at the greatest distance. His 
* disciples and accomplices attested the truth of what 
' he said by a thousand fabulous relations ; so that the 
' common people, alway credulous and fond of novelty, 
' readily give in to the cheat.' Burton mentions the 
same thing in Dahome.^ 

Colonel Dalton states that ' the paganism of the 
' Ho and Moondah in all essential features is Shaman- 
' istic' ^ So also among the Karens the prophet 
' throws himself into a state of clairvoyance. He 
' writhes his body and limbs, rolls himself on the 
' ground, and often foams at the mouth in the violence 
'of his paroxysms. When he is satisfied with his 
' condition, he becomes calm, and makes his prophetic 
' announcement.' ^ 

To quote one more case from a very different part 
of the world and yet exactly similar, Schweinfurth 
tells us that ' the wife of the Dinka had been long 
' suffering under some chronic disorder, and he had 
' undertaken a long day's journey to fetch a very cele- 
' brated conjuror or '' cogyoor " to treat her case. The 
' incantation began in a strain which would try the very 
' stoutest of nerves ; the strength of the wizard's lungs 
' was astounding, and could have won a wager against a 
' steaDi trumpet. The virtue of the proceeding, however, 
' centered upon this, and ventriloquism was called in to 
' assist in producing a dialogue between himself and the 
' devil which possessed the patient. I say the " devil " 

^ Mission to Dahome, vol. ii. ^ The Karens of the Golden 

p. 158. Chersonese, p. 157. 

2 Trans. Ethn. Soc, 1868, p. 32. 



348 IDOLATRY 

'because the biblical expression bas accustomed us to the 
' phrase, but I disapprove of the translation, and would 
' rather say the '' demon." 

' In the most penetrating tone, something like the 
' cackling of frightened hens, only a thousand times 
' louder, the sorcerer began the enchantment, which 
' consisted of several acts. 

' The first act lasted two hours without intermission, 
'and unless it were heard it could never be imagined. 
' I was assured that this introduction was quite indis- 
' pensable — as a means of intimidating the devil and com- 
' pelling him to reply, it could not by any means be 
' omitted from the execution of the charm. The dialogue 
' which followed between the wizard and the devil was 
' carried on by the artifice of ventriloquism. The wizard 
' made all kinds of inquiries as to the devil's name, the 
' period of his possession of the woman, his proceedings, 
' and his whereabouts, and then went on to ask about 
his lineage, his kinsfolk and acquaintances. When for 
' an hour or more the wizard had interrogated him, till he 
' had got all the answers he wanted, he set to work to 
' provide the real remedy.' ^ 



IDOLATRY. 

The worship of idols characterises a somewhat 
higher stage of human development. We find no traces 
of it among the lowest races of men ; and Lafitau ^ says 



' Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa, ^ Moeurs des Sauvages Ameri- 

P' 331. cains, vol. i. p. 151. 



ABSENCE OF IDOLATRY AMONG SAVAGES 349 

truly, ' On peut dire en general que le grand nombre 
' des peuples sauvages n'a point d'idoles.' The error of 
regarding Idolatry as the general religion of low races 
has no doubt mainly arisen from confusing the Idol and 
the Fetich. Fetichism, however, is an attack on the 
Deity, Idolatry is an act of submission to him ; rude no 
doubt, but yet humble. Hence, Fetichism and Idolatry 
are not only diiFerent, but opposite, so that the one 
could not be developed directly out of the other. We 
must therefore expect to find between them, as indeed 
we do, a stage of religion without either the one or the 
other. 

Captain Lyon states that the Esquimaux have no 
idols. -^ ' Neither among the Esquimaux nor the Tinne,' 
says Richardson, ' did I observe any image or visible 
' object of worship.' ^ 

Carver mentions that the Canadian Indians had no 
idols ; ^ and this seems to have been true of the North 
American Indians generally. Lafitau mentions as 
an exception the existence of an idol named Oki in 
Yirginia."^ 

In Eastern Africa Burton states that he knows ' but 
' one people, the Wanyika, who have certain statuettes 
' called Kisukas.' Prichard, however, quotes a com- 
munication from Dr. Kraff, in which it is stated that 
' the Wanika are pagans, though they have no 
' imao-es.' ^ Neither the Kaffirs nor the Bechuanas have 
idols.^ 

1 Journal, p. 372. vol. ii. p. 398. 

^ Boat Journey, vol. ii. p. 44. ^ Livingstone's Travels in South 

^ Travels, p. 387. Africa, p. 158. Maclean's Comp. of 

* Vol. i. p. 168. Kaffir Laws and Customs, p. 78. 
s Prichard's Nat. Hist, of Man, 



350 ABSENCE OF IBOLATBY AMONG SAVAGES 

Nor do the West African negroes worship idols.^ It 
is true that some writers mention idols, but the context 
almost always shows that fetiches are really meant. In 
the kingdom of Whydah ' Agoye ' was represented 
under the form of a deformed black man, from whose 
head proceed lizards and snakes,^ offering a striking 
similarity to some of the Indian idols. This is, how- 
ever, an exceptional case. Battel only mentions par- 
ticularly two idols ^ and Bosnian ^ expressly says that 
' on the Gold Coast the natives are not in the least 
' acquainted with image- worship ; ' adding, ' but at 
' Ardra there are thousands of idols,' i.e. fetiches. At 
Loango there was a small black image named Chikokke 
which was placed in a little house close to the port.^ 
These, however, were merely fetiches in human form. 
For instance, we are told by the same author that in 
Kakongo, the kingdom which lies to the south of Loango, 
the natives during the plague ' burnt their idols, saying, 
^ ^' If they will not help us in such a misfortune as this, 
' '^ when can ice expect they should?''' ' ^ Thus, appa- 
rently, doubting not so much their power as their will. 
Again, in Congo the so-called idols are placed in fields 
to protect the growing crops.'' This is clearly the 
function of a fetich, not of a true idol. 

In Madagascar, though of late years certain idols 
were treated with great respect, yet there seems reason 
to suppose that this ' idolatrous system is of compara- 

1 Astley's Collection of Voyages, * Bosman's Guinea. Pinkerton, 

vol. ii. p. 240, for Futa, and for loc. cit. p. 403. 

Guinea, as far as Ardrah, p. 666. "' Astley, loc. cit. p. 216. 

^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, '■ Ibid. p. 217. 

PP- 26, 50. 7 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 229. Living- 

3 Adventures of A. Battel. Pin- stone. Expedition to the Zambesi, 

kerton, vol. xvi. p. 331. p. 523. 



OBIGTN OF IDOLATRY 351 

^ tively modern date.' ^ The Australians and Tas- 
manians have no idols. 

'Idolatry,' says Williams of the Fijian, 'he seems 
' never to have known ; for he makes no attempt to 
'fashion material representations of his gods.' ^ As 
regards the New Zealanders, Yate^ says, that 'though 
' remarkably superstitious, they have no gods that they 
' worship : nor have they anything to represent a being 
' which they call God.' DiefFenbach also observes that 
in New Zealand ' there is no worship of idols, or of 
' bodily representations of the Atoaa.' ^ 

The same may be said of the Tongans ; while on the 
other hand, the reverse was the case with the Society 
Islanders, and some other Polynesian tribes. The 
Tannese had no idols,^ and according to Hale this is, 
true with the Micronesians generally.^ 

Speaking of the Singe Dyaks,^ Sir James Brooke 
says, ' Religion they have none : and although they 
' know the name for a god ' (which is probably taken 
from the Hindoos), 'they have no priests nor idols, say 
' no prayers, oiFer no offerings.' He subsequently modi- 
fied this opinion on some points, but as regards the 
absence of idols it seems to be correct. 

In India the Khasias have no temples or idols.^ 
The Kols of Central India worship the sun ; ' material 



^ Sibree, Madagascar and its Polynesia, p. 88. 

People, p. 396. ^ Ethno. of the United States 

2 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. Expl. Exp., pp. 77, 84. 

p. 216. Seeman's Mission to Viti, '^ Keppel's Expedition to Borneo, 

p. 154. vol. i. p. 231. 

3 Loc. cit. p. 141. s Dalton, Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 
^ Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 118. p. 57. Jour. Anthr. Ins., 1871, 
^ Turner, Nineteen Years in p. 130. 



352 GONNEGTION WITH TEE W0B8RIP OF ANGESTOES 

' idol worship they have none.' ^ Originally, says 
Dubois, the Hindoos did not resort ' to images of stone 
' or other materials, .... but when the people of 
' India had deified their heroes or other mortals, they 
' began then, and not before,, to have recourse to statues 
' and images.' ^ The Karens, again, as a race abstain from 
the worship of idols. ^ In China ' it is observable ^ that 
' there is not to be found, in the canonical books, the 
' least footstep of idolatrous worship till the image of Fo 
' was brought into China, several ages after Confucius.' 

The Ostyaks never made an image of their god 
' Torium,' ^ and some other Siberian tribes were without 
idols.^ In fact, idols do not occur until we arrive at 
the stage of the highest Polynesian Islanders. Even 
then they are often, as Ellis expressly tells us,^ mere 
shapeless pieces of wood ; thus leaving much to the 
imagination. It may, I think, be laid down almost as 
a constant rule, that mankind arrives at the stage of 
monarchy in government before he reaches idolatry 
in religion. 

The idol usually assumes the human form, and 
idolatry is closely connected with that form of religion 
which consists in the worship of ancestors. We have 
already seen how imperfectly uncivilised man realises 
the conception of death ; and we cannot wonder that 
death and sleep should long have been intimately con- 
nected together in the human mind. The savage, how- 



1 DaltoD, Trans, Etlin. Soc, N.S., * Astley, vol. iv. p. fi03. 

vol. vi. p. 32. •'' Erman, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 50. 

' Dubois, The People of India, •' Miiller, Des. de toutes les Nat. 

p. 370. de I'Empire Russe, pt. i. pp. 54, 63. 

3 M'Mahon, K. of the Golden ' Polynesian Eesearches, vol. ii. 

Chersonese, p. 125. p. 220. 



CONNECTION WITH TEE WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS 353 

ever, knows well that in sleep the spirit lives, even 
though the body appears to be dead. Morning after 
morning he wakes himself, and sees others rise, from 
sleep. Natm^ally, therefore, he endeavours to rouse the 
dead. Nor can we wonder at the very general custom 
of providing food and other necessaries for the use of 
the dead. Among races leading a settled and quiet life 
this habit would tend to continue longer and longer. 
Prayers to the dead would reasonably follow from such 
customs, for even without attributing a greater power 
to the dead than to the living, they might yet, from 
their diiferent sphere and nature, exercise a con- 
siderable power, whether for good or evil. But it 
is impossible to distinguish a request to an invisible 
being from prayer ; or a powerful spirit from a demi- 
god. 

The worship of ancestors has by some writers 
been regarded as the origin of religion. I can, how- 
ever, not accept this view. It is not specially character- 
istic of the lowest savages, and although among them 
descent is traced, as we have seen, in the female line, I 
do not know any case in which female ancestors were 
worshipped. 

However this may be, the worshi]D of ancestors is 
certainly very widely distributed. 

The Kaffirs sacrifice and pray to their deceased 
relatives, although ' it would perhaps be asserting too 
' much to say absolutely that they believe in the exist- 
' ence and the immortality of the soul.' ^ In fact, their 
belief seems to go no further than this, that the ghosts 

1 The Basutos ; Casalis, p. 243. of the Amaziilu. Livingstone, Zam- 
See also Callaway's Religious System besi, p. 46. 

A A 



354 INDIA 

of the dead haunt for a certain time their previous 
dwelling-places, and either assist or plague the living. 
No special powers are attributed to them, and it would 
be a misnomer to call them ' Deities.' 

Ancestor- worship also exists among the people of 
Angola, of Balonda, and of the Congo. The Nicara- 
guans worshipped their ancestors, regarding them as 
having become ' teotes ' or gods. 

The important part played by the worship of an- 
cestors in the religion of Greece and Kome has been 
clearly shown by M. Fustel de Coulanges, in his admir- 
able work ' La Cite Antique.' 

In less civilised societies, when there were no great 
differences of rank, deceased spirits would, indeed, 
scarcely rise beyond the dignity of ghosts ; but under a 
more settled government the ghosts of the great would 
tend to become gods. Thus it appears that in Poly- 
nesia ^ the worship of ancestors has tended to replace 
that of the earlier deities. 

The nations of Mysore at the new moon ' observe a 
' feast in honour of deceased parents.' ^ The Kurum- 
bars of the Deccan also ' sacrifice to the spirits of an- 

* cestors,' and the same is the case with the Santals.^ 
Indeed, the worship of ancestors appears to be more or 
less prevalent among all the aboriginal tribes of Central 
India. 

Burton ^ considers that some of the Egba deities are 

* palpably men and women of note in their day.' 

' The gods whom the New Zealanders fear,' says 

1 Gerland's Cont. of Waltz's ^ Elliott, Trans. Etlin. Soc, N.S., 

Anthropologie, vol. vi. p. 330. vol. viii. pp. 104, 106. 

^ Bucliarian, quoted in Trans. '^ Abbeokuta, vol. i. p. 191. 

Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. viii. p. 96. 



AFRICA— POLYNESIA— SIBERIA 355 

Shortland, ' are the spirits of the dead, who are believed 
' to be constantly watching over the living with 
'jealous eyes.' ^ I have already mentioned that 
throughout Polynesia the worship of ancestors prevailed 
among the Sandwich Islanders and Samoans, and indeed 
seems to have been gaining ground over the older forms 
of religion ; Hale says broadly ^ that the religion of the 
Micronesians ' is the worship of the spirits of their 
' ancestors.' In Peru, the deceased Yncas were wor- 
shipped as gods,^ and in Mexico Quetzalcoatl was 
doubtless, says Prescott, ' one of those benefactors of 
' their species who have been deified by the gratitude of 
' posterity.' ^ In Tanna and other neighbouring islands 
they worship the spirits of their ancestors.^ ' There can 
' be little doubt,' says Hale,^ speaking of the Micronesians, 
' that the deities worshipped in the Southern clusters 
' were only deified chiefs, the memory of whose exist- 
' ence has been lost in the lapse of time ; ' in many cases, 
at any rate, worship is avowedly paid to the spirits 
of their ancestors. 

Other races endeavour to preserve the memory of the 
dead by rude statues. Thus, ancestor- worship is very 
prevalent in Siberia, and Pallas ^ mentions that the 
Ostyaks of Siberia ' rendent aussi un culte a leurs morts. 
' lis sculptent des figures de bois pour representer les 
' Ostiaks celebres. Dans les repas de commemoration on 
' place devant ces figures une partie des mets. Les 

^ Traditions of tlie New Zea- See also VViittke, Ges. der Mensch. 

landers, p. 81. vol. i. p. 262. 

- U. S. Expl. Expedition, p. 77. ^ Turner, Nineteen Years in 

^ Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. i. Polynesia, pp. 88, 394, 411. 
p. 93. Markham, Rites and Laws of '' Ethn. of the U. S. Expl. Exp., 

the Yncas, p. 12. p. 97. 

^ Hist, of Mexico, vol. i. p. 46. '^ Pallas' Voyages, vol. iv. p. 79. 



356 SIBEBIA 

femmes qui ont cheri leurs maris ont de pareilles 
figures, les couchent avec elles, les pirent, et ne mangent 
point sans leur presenter une partie de leur portion.' 
Erman,^ also, mentions that when a man dies ' the rela- 
tives form a rude wooden image representing, and in 
honour of, the deceased, which is set up in their yurt, 
and receives divine honours ' for a certain time. ' At 
every meal they set an offering of food before the image ; 
and should this represent a deceased husband, the widow 
embraces it from time to time, and lavishes on it every 
sign of attachment.' In ordinary cases this semi- worship 
only lasts a few years, after which the image is buried. 
But when a Shaman dies, this custom changes, in his 
favour, into a complete and decided canonisation ; for 
it is not thought enough that, in this case, the dressed 
block of wood which represents the deceased should 
receive homage for a limited period, but the priest's 
descendants do their best to keep him in vogue from 
generation to generation ; and by well- contrived oracles 
and other arts they manage to procure offerings for these 
their families' penates as abundant as those laid on 
the altars of the universally acknowledged gods. But 
that these latter also have an historical origin, that 
they were originally monuments of disthiguished men, 
to which prescription and the interest of the Shamans 
gave by degrees an arbitrary meaning and importance, 
seems to me not liable to doubt ; and this is, further- 
more, corroborated by the circumstance that of all the 
sacred yurts dedicated to these saints, which have been 
numerous from the earliest times in the vicinity of the 

^ Erman, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 51. 



th:e] wisdom of solomon 357 

' river, only one has been seen (near Samarovo) con- 
' taining the image of a woman.' 

It seems to me that in other countries also, statues 
have in this manner come to be worshipped as deities > 

It is, in fact, difficult to state the origin of idolatry 
more clearly than in the following passages from the 
' Wisdom of Solomon ' : ^ — 

'13. Neither were they from the beginning, neither 
' shall they be for ever. 

'14. For by the vain glory of men they entered 
' into the world, and therefore shall they come shortly 
' to an end. 

'15. For a father afflicted with untimely mourning, 
' when he hath made an image of his child soon taken 
' away, now honoured him as a god, which was then a 
' dead man, and delivered to those that were under him 
' ceremonies and sacrifices. 

' 16. Thus, in process of time, an ungodly custom 
' grown strong was kept as a law, and graven images 
' were worshipped by the commandments of kings : 

'17. Whom men could not honour in presence, be- 
' cause they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of 
' the visage from far, and made an express image of a 
' king whom they honoured, to the end that by this their 
' forwardness, they might flatter him that was absent 
' as if he were present. 

' 18. Also the singular diligence of the artificer did 
' help to set forward the ignorant to more superstition. 

'19. For he, peradventure willing to please one in 
' authority, forced all his skill to make the resemblance 
' of the best fashion. 

^ Wisdom, cla. xiv. 12. 



358 THE IDOL NOT EEGABBEI) AS A MERE EMBLEM 

' 20. And so the multitude, allured by the grace of 
' the work, took him now for a god, which a little before 
* was but honoured as a man.' 

The idol is by no means regarded as a mere emblem. 
In India,^ when the offerings of the people have been 
less profuse than usual, the Brahmans sometimes ' put 
'the idols in irons, chaining their hands and feet. 
' They exhibit them to the people in this humiliating 
' state, into which they tell them they have been 
' brought by rigorous creditors, from whom their gods 
' had been obliged, in times of trouble, to borrow money 
'to supply their wants. They declare that the in- 
' exorable creditors refuse to set the god at liberty, 
' until the whole sum, with interest, shall have been 
' paid. The people come forward, alarmed at the sight 
' of their divinity in irons ; and thinking it the most 
' meritorious of all good works to contribute to his 
' deliverance, the}^ raise the sum required by the 
' Brahmins for that purpose.' 

' A statue of Hercules ^ was worshipped at Tyre, not 
' as a representative of the Deity, but as the Deity him- 
' self ; and accordingly, when Tyre was besieged by 
' Alexander, the Deity was fast bound in chains, to 
' prevent him from deserting to the enemy.' 

It is hard for us to appreciate the difficulty which an 
undeveloped mind hnds in raising itself to any elevated 
conception. Thus Campbell mentions that a High- 
lander, wishing to describe a castle of the utmost pos- 
sible magnificence, ended with this climax : ' That was 
' the beautiful castle ! There was not a shadow of a 

^ DuboiS; The People of India, - History of Man, vol. iv. 

p. 407. p. 316. 



THE IDOL NOT BEGAEDED AS A MERE EMBLEM 359 

^ thin^ that was for the use of a castle that was not 
^ in it, even to a herd for the geese' As, however, 
civilisation progresses, and the chiefs, becoming more 
despotic, exact more and more respect, the people are 
introduced to conceptions of power and magnificence 
higher than any which they had previously, entertained. 

Hence, though the worshij) of ancestors occurs 
among races in the stage of Totemism, it long survives, 
and may be regarded as characterising Idolatry ; which 
is really a higher religion and generally indicates a 
more advanced mental condition than the worship of 
animals or of the heavenly bodies. At first sight the 
reverse would appear to be the case : most would re- 
gard the sun as a far grander deity than any in human 
form. As a matter of fact, however, this is not so, and 
worship is generally, though not invariably, associated 
with a lower idea of the Deity than is the case with 
Idolatry. 

Indeed, the very circumstances which to our minds 
almost render the sun worthy of deification are pre- 
cisely those which made sun-worship comparatively a 
rare form of religion amongst the lower race& ol 
savages. 

Again, in the lowest religions, man does not form to 
himself any definite conception of Deity. If we enquire 
in what sense a savage regards a tree or a serpent as a 
deity, we are putting to ourselves a question which the 
savas^e does not think of askino\ But when relio^ion 
acquired a more intellectual character — when it in- 
cluded faith as well as feeling, belief as well as mystery 
— man first conceived the Deity as a being like himself 
in form, character, and attributes, only wiser and more 



360 WOBSHIF OF MEN 

powerful. This is one reason why the deities in this 
stage are anthropomorphous. 

Another is the fact that the gradually increasing 
power of chiefs and kings has familiarised the mind 
with the existence of a power greater than any which 
has been previously conceived. Thus, in Western Africa, 
the slave trade having added considerably to the wealth 
and consequently to the power of the chiefs or kings, 
they maintained much state, and insisted upon being 
treated with servile homage. No man was allowed to 
eat with them, or to approach them excepting on his 
knees, with an appearance of fear, which no doubt was 
in many cases sufficiently well-founded. 

These marks of respect so much resembled adora- 
tion, that ' the individuals ^ of the lower classes are 
' persuaded that his (the king's) power is not confined 
' to the earth.' 

Battel mentions that the king of Loango ' is honoured 
' among them as though he were a god.' ^ He is so holy 
that no one is allowed to see him eat or drink. The tyrants 
of Natal, says Casalis, ' exacted almost divine homage.' ^ 

In Peru the Ynca Uiraccocha was adored as a god 
even during his life, ' though he wished to teach the 
* Indians not to worship him.' ^ 

In Madagascar, also, the reigning sovereign was 
regarded almost as a god.^ 

In New Zealand, says Hale,^ ' the great warrior 

^ Proyart's History of Loang:o, ^ The Basutos, p. 219. 

Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 577. See also ^ Garcilasso de la Vega, vol. ii. 

Bosman, loc. cit. pp. 488, 491. Ast- p. Q7. 

ley's Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. •' Sibree, Madagascar and its 

pp. 70, 223, 226. People, p. 815. 

2 Pinkerton's Travels, vol. xvi. ^ u. S. Expl. Exped., p. 21. 

p. 330. 



W0B8HIP OF MEN 361 

* chief, Hongi, claimed for himself the title of a god, 
^ and was so called by his followers. At the Society 

* Islands, Tamatoa, the last heathen king of Eaitea, was 
' worshipped as a divinity. At the Marquesas there are, 
^ on every island, several men who are termed atua, or 
' gods, who receive the same adoration, and are believed 
^ to possess the same powers, as other deities. . . . 
^ At Depeyster's group, the westernmost cluster of 

* Polynesia, we were visited by a chief, who announced 
' himself as the atua or god of the islands, and was 
' acknowledged as such by the other natives.' 

The king and queen of Tahiti were regarded as so 
sacred that nothing once used by them, not even the 
sounds forming their names, could be used for any 
ordinary purpose.^ The language of the court was 
characterised by the most ridiculous adulation. The 
king's ' houses were called the aarai, the clouds of 
' heaven ; anuanua, the rainbow, was the name of the 
' canoe in which he voyaged ; his voice was called 
' thunder ; the glare of the torches in his dwelling was 
' denominated lightning ; and when the people saw 

* them in the evening, as they passed near his abode, 

* instead of saying the torches were burning in the 
' palace, they would observe that the lightning was 
^ flashing in the clouds of heaven.' 

Man- worship would not, indeed, be long confined to 
the dead. In many cases it extends to the living also. 
Indeed, the savage who worships an animal or a tree, 
would see no absurdity in worshipping a man. His 
chief is, in his eyes, almost as powerful as, if not more 
so than, his deity. Yet man -worship does not prevail in 

^ Ellis' Polynesian Eesearches, vol. ii. pp. 348, 360. 



362 WORSHIP OF CHIEFS 

altogether uncivilised coramunities, because the chiefs, 
associating constantly with their followers, lack that 
mystery which religion requires, and which nocturnal 
animals so eminently possess. As, however, civilisation 
progresses, and the chiefs separate themselves more and 
more from their subjects, this ceases to be the case, and 
man- worship becomes an important element of religion. 

The worship of a great chief seems quite as natural 
to man as that of an idol. ' Why,' said a Mongol^ to 
Friar Ascelin, 'since you Christians make no scruple to 
' adore sticks and stones, why do you refuse to do the same 
^ honour to Bayoth Noy, whom the Khan hath ordered 
' to be adored in the same manner as he is himself ? ' 

^ Tuikilakila,^ the chief of Somosomo, offered Mr. 
' Hunt a preferment of the same sort. " If you die 
' " lirst," said he, " I shall make you my god." In fact, 
' there appears to be no certain line of demarcation 
' between departed spirits and gods, nor between gods 
' and living men, for many of the priests and old chiefs 
' are considered as sacred persons, and not a few of them 
' will also claim to themselves the right of divinity. " I am 
' " a god," Tuikilakila would sometimes say ; and he be- 
' lieved it too. They were not merely the words of his lips ; 
' he believed he was something above a mere man.' 

This worship is, however, almost always accom- 
panied by a belief in higher beings. We have already 
seen that the New Zealanders and some other nations 
have almost entirely abandoned the worship of animals, 
&c., without as yet realising the higher stage of Idolatry, 
owing probably in great measure to their political con- 
dition. In other cases where Shamanism has not so 

^ Astley, vol. iv. p. 651. 2 Erskine's Western Pacific, p. 246. 



I 



WORSHIP OF TBAVELLEUS 363 

effectually replaced Totemism, the establishment of 
monarchical government, with its usual pomp and cere- 
monial, led to a much more organised worship of the old 
gods. Of this the serpent -worship in Western Africa, 
and the sun-worship in Peru, are striking examples. 

I do not therefore wonder that white men should 
have been so often taken for deities. This was the case 
with Captain Cook in the Pacific, with Lander in 
Western Africa,^ and, as already mentioned, Mrs. Thom- 
son was regarded by the North Australians as a spirit, 
though she lived with them for some years. In the 
Voyage of Sir Francis Drake ^ it is mentioned that some 
of the North American Indians brought ' feathers and 
' bags of Tohah for presents, or rather indeed for sacri- 
' fices, upon this persuasion that we were gods.' Mr. 
Hale tells us that the natives of Oatufu and other 
islands thought that these ' came from above, in the 
' sky. and were divinities.' ^ 

Several other similar cases have been already referred 
to {ante^ p. 268). 

It seems at first sight hard to understand how men 
can be regarded as immortal. Yet even this belief has 
been entertained in various countries. 

Merolla tells us ^ that in his time the wizards of 
Congo were called Scinghili, that is to say, Grods of the 
Earth. The head of them is styled Ganga Chitorne, 
' being reputed God of all the Earth.' ^ He further 
' asserts that his body is not capable of suffering a 

^ See ante, p. 257. See also Gerland, Anthr. der Natur- 

~ Jones, Antiquities of tlie volker, vol. vi. p. ^^1 . 

Southern Indians, p. 39f). Stevens, * Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 226, et 

Flint Chips, pp. 318, 319. seq. 
3 U. S. Expl. Exp., pp. 153, 156. 



364. W0B8HIP OF PBINCIPLE8 

^ natural death ; and, therefore, to confirm his adorers in 
' that opinion, whenever he finds his end approaching, 
' either through age or disease, he calls for such a one 
' of his disciples as he designs to succeed him, and pre- 
' tends to communicate to him his great powers : and 
' afterwards in public (where this tragedy is always 
' acted) he commands him to tie a halter about his neck 
' and to strangle himself therewith, or else to take a 
^ club and knock him down dead. This command being 
' once pronounced, is soon executed, and the wizard 
' thereby sent a martyr to the devil. The reason that 
' this is done in public is to make known the successor 
' ordained by the last breath of the predecessor, and to 
' show that it has the same power of producing rain, 
^ and the like. If this ofiice were not thus continually 
' filled, the inhabitants say that the earth would soon 
' become barren, and mankind consequently perish. In 
' my time, one of these magicians was cast into the sea, 
' another into a river, a mother and her son put to 
' death, and many others banished by our order, as has 
' been said.' 

So also the Great Lama of Thibet is regarded as 
immortal ; though his spirit occasionally passes from 
one earthly tenement to another. 

These, then, are the lowest intellectual stages 
through which religion has passed. It is no part of 
my plan to describe the various religious beliefs of the 
higher races. I have, however, stopped short sooner 
perhaps than I should otherwise have done, because the 
worship of personified principles, such as Fear, Love, 
Hope, &c., could not have been treated apart from that 
of the Phallus or Lingam with which it was so inti- 



SACBIFICES 365 

mately associated in Greece, India, Mexico, and else- 
where ; and which, though at first modest and pure, as 
all religions are in their origin, led to such abominable 
practices that it is one of the most painful chapters in 
human history. 

I will now, therefore, pass on to some points inti- 
mately connected with religion, but which could not be 
conveniently treated in the earlier part of this work. 

There is no difficulty in understanding that when 
once the idea of Spiritual Beings had become habitual 
— when once man had come to regard them as exer- 
cising an important influence, whether for good or evil 
— he would endeavour to secure their assistance and 
support. Before a war he would try to propitiate them 
by promising a share of the spoil after victory ; and fear, 
even if no higher motive, would ensure the performance 
of his promise. 

We, no doubt, regard, and justly regard, sacrifices 
as unnecessary. ' I will take no bullock,' says David,^ 
'out of thine house, nor he goat out of thy folds.' This 
sentiment, however, was far in advance of its time, and 
even Solomon felt that sacrifices, in the then condition 
of the Jews, were necessary. They form, indeed, a stage 
through which, in any natural process of development, 
religion must pass. At first it is supposed that the 
Spirits actually eat the food offered to them. Soon, 
however, it would be observed that animals sacrificed 
did not disappear ; and the natural explanation would 
be that the Spirit ate the spiritual part of the victim, 
leaving the grosser portion to his devout worshipper. 
Thus the Limboos, near Darjeeling, eat their sacrifices, 

1 Psalm 1. 



366 SACRIFICES 

dedicating, as tiaey forcibly express it, " the life -breath 
' to the gods, the flesh to ourselves.' ^ 

So also, as Sir Gr. Grey tells us, the New Zealand 
fairies, when Te Kanawa gave them his jewels, carried 
off tbe shadows only, not caring for the earthly sub- 
stance.^ In Guinea, according to Bosman, ' the idol 
' hath only the blood, because they like the flesh very 
' well themselves.' ^ In other cases the idols were 
smeared with the blood, while the devotees feasted on 
the flesh. The Ostyaks, when they kill an animal, rub 
some of the blood on the mouths of their idols. Even 
this seems at length to be replaced in some cases, as Mr. 
Tylor has suggested, by red paint. Thus, the sacred 
stones in India, as Colonel Forbes Leslie has shown, are 
frequently ornamented with red.^ So also in Congo it 
is customary to daub the fetiches with red every new 
moon. 

Of the great offerings of food among the Fijians, 
says Williams,^ 'native belief apportions merely the 
' soul thereof to the gods, who are described as being 
' enormous eaters ; the substance is consumed by the 
' worshippers.' 

In Madagascar ' in almost all cases the worshippers 
' seem to have feasted on the flesh.' ^ 

Gradually, indeed, it comes to be a necessary por- 
tion of the ceremony that the victim should be eaten 
by those present. Thus, in India,'^ when the sacrifice 

^ Campbell, in Trans. Ethn. Soc, of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 464. 

N.S., vol. vii. p. 153. -^ Fiji and the FijiaDs, vol. i. 

2 Polynesian Mythology, p. 294. p. 231. See also p. 223. 

3 Bosman, Pinkerton's Voyages, « g^i^j.^^^ Madagascar and its 
vol. xvi. p. 531. Astley's Collection People, p. 389. 
of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 97. ^ ^^.^^ois. The People of India, 

'^ See, for instance. Early Races p. 401. 



CONFUSION OF THE SAGBIFIGF AND THE DEITY 367 

is over, ' the priest comes out, and distributes part of 
' the articles which have been offered to the idols. 
' This is received as holy, and is eaten immedi- 
' ately.' 

Ellis ^ mentions an indication of this in Tahiti, when 
human sacrifices prevailed, but cannibalism was aban- 
doned. The priest handed a portion of the victim to 
the king, ' who raised it to his mouth as if desirous to 
' eat it,' but then handed it to an attendant. Among 
the Kedskins,^ at the feast held when the hunting 
season begins, the victim ' must be all eaten and nothing 
' left.' It is remarkable that among the Algonkins 
another rule at the same feast is that not a bone of the 
victim must be broken.^ 

In many cases a curious confusion arises between 
the victim and the deity, and the former is worshipped 
before it is sacrificed and eaten. Thus in ancient 
Egypt, Apis, the victim, was also regarded as the God,^ 
and Iphigenia was supposed by some to be the same as 
Artemis.^ The same explanation of the facts has been 
subsequently adopted by H. Spencer.^ 

In Mexico ^ at a certain period of the year the priest 
of Quetzalcoatl made an image of the Deity, of meal 
mixed with infants' blood, and then, after many im- 
pressive ceremonies, killed the image by shooting it with 
an arrow, and tore out the heart, which was eaten by 
the king, while the rest of the body was distributed 

^ Polynesian Eesearches, vol. ii. p. 213. 
p. 214. 5 if,i^ p i5g 

2 Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, « ^Yx.e Principles of Sociology, 
vol. iii. p. 61. Tanner's Narrative, p. 300. 

p. 287. 7 See Miiller, Ges. d. Amer. Urr. 

3 Tanner's Narrative, p. 195. p. 605. Wiittke, Ges. der Mensch., 
* Cox's Manual of Mythology, vol. i. p. 314. 



368 WOBSEIP OF THE 8AGRIFIGE 

among the people, every one of whom was most anxious 
to procure a piece to eat, however small. 

The great yearly sacrifice in honour of Tezcatlipoca 
was also very remarkable. Some beautiful youth, 
usually a war captive, was chosen as the victim. For 
a whole year he was treated and worshipped as a god. 
When he went out he was attended by a numerous 
train of pages, and the crowd as he passed prostrated 
themselves before him, and did him homage as the im- 
personation of the good Deity. Everything he could 
wish was provided for him, and at the commencement 
of the last month four beautiful girls were allotted to 
him as wives. Finally, when the fatal day arrived, he 
was placed at the head of a solemn procession, taken to 
the temple, and after being sacrificed with much cere- 
mony and every token of respect, he was eaten by the 
priests and chiefs.-^ 

Again, among the Khonds ^ of Central India human 
sacrifices prevailed until quite lately. ' A stout stake 
is driven into the soil, and to it the victim is fastened, 
seated, and anointed with ghee, oil, and turmeric, 
decorated with flowers, and worshipped during the day 
by the assembly. At nightfall the licentious revelry 
is resumed, and on the third morning the victim gets 
some milk to drink, when the presiding priest implores 
the goddess to shower her blessings on the people. 

' After the mock ceremony, nevertheless, the victim 
is taken to the grove where the sacrifice is to be 
carried out ; and, to prevent resistance, the bones of 



^ Miiller, /oc. a;t. p. 617. Prescott, ^ jy^. Shortt, Trans. Ethn. Soc.^ 

loc. cit. vol. i. p. 5. Rites and Laws N.S., vol. vi. p. 273. Campbell, 
of the Incas, p. 28. Wild Tribes of Khondistan, p. 112. 



EATING THE SACBIFIGE 369 

' tlie arms and legs are broken, or the victim drugged 
' with opium or datura, when the janni wounds his 
' victim with his axe. This act is followed up by the 
' crowd ; a number now press forward to obtain a piece 
' of his flesh, and in a moment he is stripped to the 
' bones.' 

An almost identical custom prevails among the 
Marimos, a tribe of South Africa much resembling: the 
Bechuanas. We find amongst them, says Arbousset, 
' the practice of human sacrificed on the occasion of a 
' ceremony which they call meseletso oa mabele^ or the 
' boiling of the corn. They generally select for this 
' sacrifice a young man, stout, but of small stature. 
' They secure him, it may be by violence, or it may 
^ be by intoxicating' him with yoala. They then 
' lead him into the fields, and sacrifice him in the 

* midst of the fields, according to their own expres- 
^ sion, for seed. His blood, after having been coagu- 
' lated by the rays of the sun, is burned along with 
' the frontal bone, the flesh attached to it, and tho 
' brain. The ashes are then scattered over the lands 
' to fertilise them, and the remainder of the body is 

* eaten.' ^ 

Schoolcraft ^ mentions a very similar sacrifice to the 
' Spirit of Corn ' among the Pawnees. The victim was 
first tortured by being suspended over a fire. ' At a 
' given signal a hundred arrows were let fly, and her 
' whole body was pierced. These were immediately 
^ withdrawn, and her flesh cut from her bones in small 
' pieces, which were put into baskets, and carried into 

* Tour to tlie N.E. of the Oape ^ Schoolcraft's Personal Memoirs 

Good Hope, p. 58. p. 614. 

B B 



370 EATING TEH 8AGBIFIGE 

' the cornfield, where the grain was being planted, and 
' the blood squeezed out on each hill. ' 

In some parts of Africa ' eating the fetich ' is a 
solemn ceremony, by which women swear fidelity to 
their husbands, men to their friends. On a marriage in 
Issini, the parties ' eat the fetich together, in token of 
^ friendship, and as an assurance of the woman's fidelity 
' to her husband.' ^ In taking an oath, also, the same 
ceremony is observed. To know, says Loyer, ' the 
^ truth from any negro, you need only mix something 
' in a little water, and steeping a bit of bread, bid him 
' eat or drink that fetich as a sign of the truth. If the 
' thing be so he will do it freely ; but if otherwise, he 
' will not touch it, believing he should die on the spot 
' if he swore falsely.' 

The sacrifices were, as a general rule, not eaten by 
all indiscriminately. In Fiji they were confined to 
the old men and priests ; women and young men being 
excluded from any share. 

In many cases, the priests gradually established a 
claim to the whole ; a result which could not fail to act 
as a considerable stimulus to the practice of sacrifice. 
It also affected the character of the worship. Thus, as 
Bosman tells us, the priests encouraged offerings to the 
Serpent rather than to the Sea, because, in the latter 
case, as he expresses it, there happens no remainder to 
' be left for them.' 

As already mentioned, the feeling which has led to 
the sacrifice of animals would naturally culminate in 
that of men. So natural, indeed, does the idea of 
human sacrifice appear to the human mind in this stage 

^ Loyer, in Astley's Collection of Voyages, vol, ii. pp. 436, 441. 



HUMAN SACRIFICE 371 

that we meet with it in various nations all over the 
world ; and it is unjust to regard it, with Prescott,^ as 
evidence of fiendish passions : on the contrary, it indi- 
cates deep and earnest religious feeling, perverted by an 
erroneous conception of the Divine character. 

Human sacrifices occurred in Guinea,^ and Burton ^ 
saw ' at Benin city a young woman lashed to a scafibld- 
' ing upon the summit of a tall blasted tree, and being 
' devoured by the turkey -buzzards. The people de- 
' clared it to be a " fetich " or charm for bringing rain.' 
I have already mentioned the existence of human 
sacrifice among the Marimos of South Africa. 

Captain Cook describes human sacrifices as prevalent 
among the islanders of the Pacific,^ and especially in 
the Sandwich group.^ He particularly describes^ the 
case of a sacrifice offered by Towha, chief of the district 
of Tettha, in Tahiti, to propitiate the Deity on the 
occasion of an expedition against Eimeo (PL IV.) ; and 
mentions that, during the ceremony, ' a kingfisher 
' making a noise in the trees, Otoo (the king) turned 
' to me, saying, " That is the Eatooa," i.e. Deity.' War 
captives were frequently sacrificed in Brazil. 

In Madagascar human sacrifices seem to have pre- 
vailed in the province of Vangaidrano, but not elsewhere. "" 

Various nations in India besides the Khonds, who 
have been already mentioned, used to offer up human 
sacrifices on extraordinary occasions ; but so recently 

^ History of Mexico, vol. i. vol. ii. p. 41. 
p. 68. '" Loc. cit. vol. iii. p. 161. 

^ Astley's Collection of Voyages, ^ Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 30. 

vol. iii. p. 113. '^ Sibree, Madagascar and its 

'^ Abheolmta, vol. i. p. 19. People, p. 390. 

^ Cook, Voyage to tlie Pacific, 

B B 2 



372 HUMAN 8ACBIFIGE 

as 1865-66 such sacrifices were resorted to in hopes of 
averting the famine ; ^ and even now in some places, 
though the actual sacrifice is no longer permitted, they 
make human figures of flour, paste, or clay, and then 
cut ofi" the heads in honour of their gods ; ^ just as the 
Eomans used to throw dolls into the Tiber as a substi- 
tute for human sacrifices. 

Many cases of human sacrifice are mentioned in 
ancient history. The Carthaginians, after their defeat 
of Agathocles, burnt some of their captives as a sacrifice ; 
the Assyrians offered human sacrifices to the god Nergal. 

Although resorted to on various critical occasions 
by the Greeks, human sacrifice appears to have been 
foreign to the mythology and opposed to the spirit of 
that people. Human sacrifices are connected with a 
more earnest and melancholy theology. In Roman 
history they occur far more frequently, and even down 
to a late date. In the year 46 B.C. Caesar sacrificed two 
soldiers on the altar in the Campus Martius.^ Augustus 
is said to have sacrificed a maiden named Grregoria.^ 
Even Trajan, when Antioch was rebuilt, sacrificed 
Calliope, and placed her statue in the theatre.^ Under 
Commodus, and later emperors, human sacrifices ap- 
pear to have been more common ; and a gladiator 
appears to have been sacrificed to Jupiter Latialis even 
in the time of Constantine.^ Yet these awful rites had 
been expressly forbidden B.C. 95 ; and Pliny asserts that 
in his time they were never openly solemnised.'^ 

In Northern Europe human sacrifices were not un- 

1 Hunter, Annals of Rural Ben- * Malalas, Chron., p. 221. 
gal, 1868, p. 128. ^ 76^6^. p. 275. 

2 DulDois, loc. cit. p. 490. « Porphyry, De Abstin., ii. 56. 

3 Dio. H. R., xliii. 24. ^ ^at. His,, xxx. 1, 12. 



ETJBOFE 373 

common. The Yarl of the Orkneys is recorded to have 
sacrificed the son of the King of Norway to Odin in the 
year 893/ In 993, Hakon Yarl sacrificed his own son 
to the gods. Donald, King of Sweden, was burnt by 
his people as a sacrifice to Odin, in consequence of a 
severe famine.^ At Upsala was a celebrated temple, 
round which an eye-witness assured Adam of Bremen 
that he had seen the corpses of seventy-two victims 
hanging up at one time.^ 

In Russia, as in Scandinavia, human sacrifices con- 
tinued down to the introduction of Christianity. In 
Mexico and Peru they seem to have been peculiarly 
numerous. Miiller^ has suggested that this may have 
partly arisen from the fact that these nations were not 
softened by the possession of domestic animals. Various 
estimates have been made of the number of human 
victims annually sacrificed in the Mexican temples. 
M tiller thinks 2,500 is a moderate estimate ; and in 
one year it appears to have exceeded 100,000. 

Among the Jews we find a system of animal sacri- 
fices on a great scale, and symbols of human sacrifices, 
which can, I think, only be understood on the hypo- 
thesis that the latter were once usual. The case of 
Jephthah's daughter is generally Jooked upon as quite 
exceptional,^ but the twenty -eighth and twenty-ninth 
verses of the twenty- seventh chapter of Leviticus ap- 
pear to indicate that human sacrifices were at one time 
habitual among the Jews. 

^ Snorre, Heimskringla, vol. ii. * Geschichte der Americanisehen 

p, 31. Torfseus, His. Rer. Norvegi- Urreligionen, p. 23. 
carum, vol. ii. p. 52. _ ^ See Kalisch, Commentary on 

2 Snorre, vol. i. p. 56. the Old Testament, Lev., pt. i. 

^ Adam of Bremen, vol. iv. p. 27. p. 409. 



374 AMEBICA—THE JEWS— TEMPLES 

I do not here refer to the human sacrifices at burials, 
because these are not, strictly speaking, of a religious 
character, but intended to supply the deceased with 
wives or slaves in the land of spirits. 

The lower savages have no temples or sacred build- 
ings. Throughout the new world there was no such 
thing as a temple, excepting among the semi- civilised 
races of Central America and Peru. 

The Stiens of Cambodia ' have neither priests nor 
' temples.' ^ We should seek in vain, says Casalis,^ 
' from the extremity of the southern promontory of 
'Africa to the country far beyond the banks of the 
' Zambesi, for anything like the pagodas of India, the 
' maraes of Poljaiesia, or the fetich huts of Nigritia.' 
The people of Madagascar, as we are informed by 
Drury,^ who resided fifteen years among them, although 
they have settled abodes, keep large herds of cattle, and 
are diligent agriculturists, ' have no temples, no taber- 
' nacles or groves for the public performance of their 
' divine worship ; neither have they solemn fasts, or fes- 
' tivals, or set days or times ; nor priests to do it for them.' 

The Toorkmans, says Burnes,"^ ' are without 
' mosques.' The Micronesians, according to Hale,^ 
' have neither temples, images, nor sacrifices.' The 
Khasias ^ ' have no temples.' The same is the case 
with the Ostyaks and other savage races of Siberia.^ 

^ Mouhot's Travels in the ^ U.S. Explor. Exped., pp. 77, 

Central Parts of Indo-Ohina, vol. i. 84, 
p. 250. ^ Godwin -Austen, Jour, of the 

2 The Basutos, p. 237. Anthr. Inst., 1871, p. 130. 

^ Adventures of Robert Drury, '^ Miiller, Des. de toutes les Nat. 

p. 10. de I'Emp. Russe, pt. ii. p. 105 ; 

* Travels into Bokhara, vol. ii. pt. iii. p. 141. 
p. 260. 



TEMPLES— PRIESTS 375 

Professor Nilsson was, I believe, the first to point 
out that certain races buried the dead in their houses, 
and that the chambered tumuli of Northern Europe are 
probably copies of the dwellings then used ; sometimes 
perhaps the actual dwellings themselves. We know 
that as the power of chiefs increased, their tombs became 
larger and more magnificent ; and Mr. Fergusson has 
well shown how, in India, the tumulus has developed 
into the temple. 

In some cases, as, for instance, in India, it is far 
from easy to distinguish between a group of stone gods 
and a sacred fane. In fact, we mav be sure that the 
very same stones are by some supposed to be actual 
deities, while others more advanced regard them as 
sacred only because devoted to religious purposes. Some 
of^ the ruder Hindostan tribes actually worship upright 
stones ; but Colonel Forbes Leslie regards the sacred 
stones represented in PI. III. as a place of worship, 
rather than as actual deities ; and this is at any rate 
the case with another group similarly painted, which 
he observed near Andlee, also in the Dekhan, and 
which is peculiarly interesting from its resemblance to 
those stone circles of our own country of which Stone - 
henge is (see Froniis'piece) the grandest representative. 
Fig. 18, p. 259, represents^ a religious dance as prac- 
tised by the Redskins of Virginia. Here, also, as already 
mentioned, we see a sacred circle of stones, differing 
from those of our own country, and of India, only in 
having a human head rudely carved on each stone. 

The lower races of men have no Priests properly so 
called. Many passages, indeed, may be quoted which, 

^ Moeurs des Saiiv. Amer., vol. ii. p. 136. 



Z1Q PBIEST8 

at first sight, appear to negative this assertion. If, 
however, we examine more closely the true functions 
of these so-called ' priests,' we shall easily satisfy our- 
selves that the term is a misnomer, and that wizards 
only are intended. Without temples and sacrifices 
there cannot be priests. 

According to Drury, there were no priests in Mada- 
gascar ; more recently, however, the guardians of the 
idols had usurped priestly functions and even claimed 
for themselves immunities from legal consequences, 
akin to the custom of privilege of clergy, which sur- 
vived until so recently among ourselves.' 

The New Zealanders ^ had ' no regular priesthood.' 
Neither the Hill Tribes of India nor the Yedic Aryans 
had priests. Mr. Gladstone^ observes that the priest 
was not, ' as such, a significant personage in Greece at 
' any period, nor had the priest of any one place or 
' deity, so far as we knoAv, any organic connection with 
' the priest of any other ; so that if there were priests, 
' yet there was not a priesthood.' 

Miiller again expresses himself in very similar 
language. ' That there ever was in Greece,' he says, 
' a priesthood, strictly speaking, in contradistinction to 
' a laity, is a point which, in my opinion, cannot at all 
' be estabhshed.' * 

The progress seems to be that at first all men were, 
in this respect at least, alike. After a while some 
became more celebrated than others as sorcerers and 
diviners. These persons gradually associated them- 

^ Sibree, Madagascar and its ^ Juyentus Mundi, p. 181. 

People, p. 400. 4 Scientific System of Mythology, 

^ Yate, p. 146. p. 188. 



TED CONDITION OF TEE SOUL AFTER BEATS S77 

selves into a special class or caste, and assumed also 
the functions of doctors and priests. These qualities 
by degrees assumed more and more importance. It is 
therefore, in some cases, difficult to say whether the 
' medicine men,' or ' mystery men,' are doctors or 
priests. For instance, among the Kaffirs there are 
certain persons known as ' Isanusi,' ' In tonga,' or, 

* Igqira,' which terms, says Mr. Warner,^ ' I choose to 

* translate by the word " priest," in preference to that of 

* " doctor," the term generally employed by Europeans 
^ to designate this class of persons.' 

An important part of their duty consists in regulat- 
ing the weather. ' This,' says Mr. Warner,^ ' is another 
' of the heathenish vanities in which the benighted 
^ Kaffirs put their trust. They firmly believe that some 
' of their priests have the power to cause it to rain.' 

I have already pointed out (ante, p. 238) the great 
difference between the belief in ghosts and in the im- 
mortality of the soul. Some races entirely disbelieve 
in the survival of the soul after the death of the body, 
and even those which are more advanced often differ 
from us very much in their views ; in fact the belief in 
a universal, independent, and endless existence is con- 
fined to the very highest races of men.^ The New 
Zealanders believe that a man who is eaten as well as 
killed, is thus destroyed both soul and body. Even, 
however, those who have proper interment are far from 
secure of reaching the happy regions in the land of 
spirits. The road to these is long and dangerous, and 
many a soul perishes by the way. 

^ Kaffir Laws and Customs, p. 80. ^ Taylor, New Zealand and its 

^ Ibid. p. 104. Inhabitants, p. 101. 



378 SUBVIVAL OF THE SOUL 

In the Tonga Islands the chiefs are regarded as im- 
mortal, the Tooas or common people as mortal ; with 
reference to the intermediate class, or Mooas, there is a 
difference of opinion. 

A friend of Mr. Lang's ^ ' tried long and patiently to 
make a very intelligent docile Australian black under- 
stand his existence without a body, but the black 
never could keep his countenance, and generally made 
an excuse to get away. One day the teacher watched 
and found that he went to have a hearty fit of 
laughter at the absurdity of the idea of a man living 
and gomg about without arms, legs, or mouth to eat ; 
for a long time he could not believe that the gentle- 
man was serious, and when he did realise it, the more 
serious the teacher was, the more ludicrous the whole 
affair appeared to the black.' 

The resurrection of the body as preached by the 
missionaries,^ appeared to the Tahitians ' astounding ' 
and ' incredible ; * and ' as the subject was more fre- 
* quently brought under their notice in public discourse 
' or in reading the Scriptures, and their minds were 
' more attentively exercised upon it in connection with 
' their ancestry, themselves, and their descendants, it 
' appeared invested with more than ordinary difficulty, 
' bordering, to their apprehension, on impossibility.' 

Although the Fijian s believe that almost every- 
thing has a spirit, few spirits are immortal : the road to 
Mbulu is long, and beset with so many difficulties, that 
after all few attain to immortality.^ 

^ The Aborigines of Australia, ^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. 

p. 31. p. 247. Seemann, Mission to Viti, 

^ Ellis, Polynesian Researches, p. 400. 
vol. ii. p. 165. 



DEATH OF THE 8PIB1T 379 

We find a very similar belief also among the 
Esquimaux ^ and the Kaffirs.^ 

As regards Central India, Colonel Dalton says,^ ' I 
Mo not think that the present generation of Kols have 
^ any notion of a heaven or hell that may not be traced 
' to Brahminical or Christian teaching. The old idea 
* is that the souls of the dead become " bhoots," spirits, 
' but no thought of reward or punishment is connected 
' with the change. When a Ho swears, the oath has 
' no reference whatever to a fature state. He prays 
' that if he speak not the truth he may be afflicted in 
' this world with the loss of all — health, wealth, wife, 
' children : that he may sow without reaping, and 
' finally may be devoured by a tiger ; but he swears 
' not by any happiness beyond the grave. He has in 
' his primitive state no such hope ; and I believe that 
' most Indian aborigines, though they may have some 
' vague ideas of continuous existence, will be found 
' equally devoid of original notions in regard to the 
'judgment to come.' 

In his ' Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal ' he makes 
a similar statement with reference to the Chalikatas, 
another of the hill tribes, declaring that they ' utterly 
' rejected all notions of a future state. The spirits they 
' propitiated were, they declared, mortal like them- 
' selves.' ^ The Buihers,^ Oraons,^ and Juangs ^ also 
held very similar views. Again, ' all enquirers on the 



1 Crantz's Greenland, p. 259 ; ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc, 1867, p. 38. 

quoted in Tylor's Primitive Culture, * Ibid. p. 21. 

vol. ii. p. 20. ^ Des. Ethn. of Bengal, p. 133. 

-^ Callaway, Amazulu Eeligion, ^ Loc. cit. p. 257. 

p. 355. "^ Loc. cit. p. 157. 



380 THE LOCALITY OF HLJAVEN 

' subject appeared to have arrived at the conclusion that 
' the Santals have no belief in a future state.' ^ 

Among the Micronesians, according to Hale,^ the 
souls of those, 'only those, who are. tattooed (being 
' chiefly persons of free birth) can expect to reach the 
' Kainakaki. All others are intercepted on their way, 
' and devoured by a monstrous giantess, called Baine.^ 
Some of the Guinea negroes considered that the soul of 
the departed was subjected to an examination as to 
his conduct during life, and if found wanting, ' his god 
' plunges him into the river, where he is drowned, and 
' buried in eternal oblivion.' ^ 

Even when the spirit is supposed to survive the 
body, the condition of souls after death is not at first 
considered to differ materially from that during life. 
Heaven is merely a distant part of earth. Thus the 
^ seats of happiness are represented by some Hindu 
' writers to be s^ast mountains on the north of India.' ^ 

The Haitians considered that the paradise of the 
dead was situated in the lovely western valleys of their 
island.^ Again, in Tonga the souls are supposed to go 
to Bolotoo, a large island to the north-west, well stocked^ 
with all kinds of useful and ornamental plants, ' always 
' bearing the richest fruits and the most beautiful 
' flowers, according to their respective natures ; that 
' when these fruits or flowers are plucked, others imme- 
' diately occupy their place. . . . The island of Bolotoo 
' is supposed to be so far ofi* as to render it dangerous 

^ Loc. cit. p. 218. 5 Tylor's Primitive Culture, vol. 

"" U.S. Expl. Exped., p. 99. ii. p. 56. 

3 Bosman, Pinkerton's Voyages, '^ Mariner, loc. cit. vol. ii. 

vol. xvi. p. 401. p. 108. 
^ Dubois, loc. cit. p. 485. 



BELIEF IN A FUTURE LIFE 381 

* for their canoes to attempt going there ; and it is 
' supposed, moreover, that even if they were to succeed 
' in reaching so far, unless it happened to be the parti- 
' cular will of the gods, they would be sure to miss it.' 

They believe, however, that on one occasion a canoe 
actually reached Bolotoo. The crew landed, but when 
they attempted to touch anything ' they could no more 
' lay hold of it than if it had been a shadow.' Conse- 
quently hunger soon overtook them, and forced them to 
return, which they fortunately succeeded in doing. 

A curious notion, already referred to, is the belief 
that each man has several souls. It is common to 
various parts of America,^ and exists in Madagascar as 
well as among the Khonds of Hindostan. It apparently 
arises from the idea that each pulse is the seat of a 
different life. It also derives an appearance of proba- 
bility from the inconsistencies of behaviour to which 
savages are so prone. The Fijians also believed that 
each man has two spirits.^ Among the ancient Greeks 
and Romans there are some indications of the existence 
of a similar belief^ 

The belief in a future state, if less elevated than our 
own, is singularly vivid among some barbarous races. 
Thus we are told that among the Ancient Britons 
money was habitually lent on what may strictly be 
termed ' postobits ' — promises to pay in another world, 
and it is said that the same thing occurs even now in 
Japan. 

^ Tertre's History of the Oaribby p. 664. 
Islands, p. 288. It prevails also in ^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. 

Greenland, Miiller, Ges. der Am. p. 241. 
Urreligionen, p. 66 ; and among the ^ Lafitau, vol. ii. p. 424. 

Chippewas. Schoolcraft, vol. vi. 



382 PUTTING OLD PEOPLE TO DEATH 

A striking ic stance of undoubting faith is mentioned 
by Mr. Tylor. A Hindoo thought he had been unfairly 
deprived of forty rupees, whereupon he cut off his own 
mother's head, with her full consent, in order that her 
spirit might haunt and harass the man who had taken 
the money, and those concerned with him/ 

The Fijians believe that ' as they die, such will be 
' their condition in another world ; hence their desire to 
' escape extreme infirmity.' ^ The way to Mbulu, as 
already mentioned, is long and difficult ; many always 
perish, and no diseased or infirm person could possibly 
succeed in surmounting all the dangers of the road. 
Hence, as soon as a man feels the approach of old age, 
he notifies to his children that it is time for him to die. 
If he neglects to do so, the children after a while take 
the matter into their own hands. A family consultation 
is held, a day appointed, and the grave dug. The aged 
person has his choice of being strangled or buried alive. 
Mr. Hunt gives the following striking description of 
such a ceremony once witnessed by him. A young 
man came to him and invited him to attend his mother's 
funeral, which was just going to take place. Mr. Hunt 
accepted the invitation, and joined the procession, but, 
surprised to see no corpse, he made enquiries, when the 
young man ' pointed out his mother, who was walking 
' along with them, as gay and lively as any of those 
^ present, and apparently as much pleased. Mr. Hunt 
' expressed his surprise to the young man, and asked how 
* he could deceive him so much by saying his mother 
' was dead, when she was alive and well. He said, in 

1 Primitive Culture, vol. ii. - Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. 

p. 103. p. 183. 



PUTTIJSG OLD PEOFLB TO DEATH 383 

^ reply, that they had made her death-feast, and were 
' now going to bury her ; that she was old, that his 
^ brother and himself had thon2:ht she had lived lono- 
' enough, and it was time to bury her, to which she had 

* willingly assented, and they were about it now. He 
^ had come to Mr. Hunt to ask his prayers, as they did 
' those of the priest. 

* He added, that it was from love for his mother 
' that he had done so ; that in consequence of the same 
^ love, they were now going to bury her, and that none 
' but themselves could or ought to do such a sacred 
^ office ! Mr. Hunt did all in his power to prevent so 
' diabolical an act ; but the only reply he received was 
' that she was their mother, and they were her children, 
' and they ought to put her to death. On reaching the 
' grave, the mother sat down, when they all, including 

* children, grandchildren, relations and friends, took an 
' affectionate leave of her ; a rope, made of twisted 
^ tapa, was then passed twice round her neck by her 
^ sons, who took hold of it and strangled her ; after 

* which she was put into her grave, with the usual 
^ ceremonies.' ^ 

So general was this custom that in one town con- 
taining several hundred inhabitants Captain Wilkes did 
not see one man over forty years of age, all the old 
people having been buried. The same belief is found 
in other Pacific Islands, as, for instance, in the Hervey 
Islands.^ 

For the same reason the Australians in some cases 
cut off the right thumb of a dead foe, believing that 

1 Wilkes' Exploring Expedition, ^ Qin, Myths of the South Pa- 

condensed edition, p. 211. cific^ p. 162. 



384 THIS FUTURE STATE 

being thus ' unable to throw the spear or to use the 
' dowak efficiently, his spirit can do them very little 
' injury.' ^ We find also a very similar belief among 
some of the negroes.^ 

In Dahome the king sends constant messages to 
his deceased father, by messengers who are killed for 
the purpose.^ The same firm belief which leads to 
this reconciles the messengers to their fate. They 
are well treated beforehand, and their death, being 
instantaneous, is attended with little pain. Hence 
we are assured that they are quite cheerful and con- 
tented, and scarcely seem to look on their death as a 
misfortune. 

The North American Indian, as Schoolcraft tells us, 
has little dread of death. ' He does not fear to go to a 
* land which, all his life long, he has heard abounds in 
' rewards without punishments.' * The Japanese com- 
mit suicide for the most trifling causes ; and it is said 
that in China, if a rich man is condemned to death, he 
can sometimes purchase a willing substitute at a very 
small expense. 

The lower races have no idea of Creation, and even 
among those somewhat more advanced it is at first 
very incomplete. Their deities are j)art of, not the 
makers of, the world ; and even when the idea of 
creation dawns upon the mind, it is not strictly a 
creation, but merely the raising of land already existing 
at the bottom of the original sea. 

The Abipones had no theory on the subject ; when 

^ Oldfield, Trans. Ethn. Soc, ^ Burton's Dahome, vol. ii. 

N. S., vol. iii. p. 287. p. 25. 

2 Wuttke, Ges. der Mensch., ^ Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, vol. 

vol. i. p. 107. ii. p. 68. 



CREATION 385 

questioned by DobritzhofFer/ ' My father,' replied Ye- 
hoalay readily and frankly, ' our grandfathers, and 
^ great-grandfathers, were wont to contemplate the 
' earth alone, solicitous only to see whether the plain 
' afforded grass and water for their horses. They 
' never troubled themselves about what went on in the 
' heavens, and who was the creator and governor . of 
' the stars.' 

Father Baegert,^ in his account of the Californian 
Indians, says, 'I often asked them whether they had 
' never put to themselves the question who might be 
' the Creator and Preserver of the sun, moon, stars, and 
' other objects of nature, but was always sent home with 
' a " vara," which means " no " in their language.' 

The Chipewyans ^ thought that the world existed at 
first in the form of a globe of water, out of which the 
Great Spirit raised the land. The Lenni Lenape^ say 
that Manitu at the be^rinninof swam on the water, and 
made the earth out of a grain of sand. He then made 
a man and woman out of a tree. The Mingos and 
Ottawwaws believe that a rat brought up a grain of 
sand from the bottom of the water, and thus produced 
the land. The Crees^ had no ideas at all as to the 
origin of the world. 

yjStuhr, who was, as Miiller says, a good observer of 
such matters, tells us that the Siberians had no idea of 
a Creator. When Burchell suggested the idea of crea- 
tion to the Bachapin Kaffirs, they ' asserted that every- 
' thing made itself, and that trees and herbage grew by 

^ Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 59. p. 107. 

2 Loc. cit. p. 390. ^ Franklin's Journey to the Polar 

3 Dunn's Oregon, p. 102. Sea, vol. i. p. 143. 

4 Miiller, Ges; d. Amer, Urr. 

C C 



386 CREATION 

' their own will.' ^ It also appears from Canon Calla- 
way's researches that the Zulu Kaffirs have no notion 
of creation. Casalis makes the same statement : all 
the natives, he says, ' whom we questioned on the 
' subject have assured us that, it never entered their 
^ heads that the earth and sky might be the work of an 

* Invisible Being.' ^ The same is also the case with the 
Hottentots. 

The Australians, again, had no idea of creation. 
According to Polynesian mythology, heaven and earth 
existed from the beginning.^ The latter, however, was 
at first covered by water, until Mawe drew up New 
Zealand by means of an enchanted fish-hook.^ This 
fish-hook was made from the jaw-bone of Muri-ranga- 
whenna, and is now the cape forming the southern ex- 
tremity of Hawkes' Bay. The Tongans,^ Samoans,^ 
and Hervey Islanders ^ have a very similar tale. Here 
the islands were drawn up by Tangaloa, ' but, the line 
' accidentally breaking, the act was incomplete, and 
' matters were left as they now are. They show a hole 
' in the rock, about two feet in diameter, which quite 
' perforates it, and in which Tangaloa' s hook got fixed. 
^ It is, moreover, said that Tooitonga had, till within a 
' few years, this very hook in his possession.' 

As regards Tahiti, Williams ^ observes that the 
' origin of the gods, and their priority of existence in 

* comparison with the formation of the earth, being a 

* Zoc. cit. vol. ii. p. 550. ^ Mariner, loc. dt. vol. i. p. 284. 

2 The Basutos, p. 238. « jjale, U. S. Expl. Exp., p. 26. 

3 Polynesian Mythology, p. 1. ' Gill, Myths of the S. Pacific, 
Gill, Myths of the South Pacific, p. 73. 

p. 20. Shortland, loc. cit. p. 35. ^ Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. 

^ Ibid. p. 45. p. 191. 



OBEATION 387 

' matter of uncertainty even among the native priests, 
' involves the whole in the greatest obscurity.' Even 
in Sanskrit there is no word for creation, nor does any 
such idea appear in the Rigveda, in the Zendavesta, or 
in Homer. 

When the Capuchin missionary MeroUa ^ asked the 
Queen of Singa, in Western Africa, who made the 
world, she, ' without the least hesitation, readily an- 
' swered, '' My ancestors." " Then," replied the Capu- 
' chin, " does your Majesty enjoy the whole power of 
' " your ancestors ? " " Yes," answered she, " and 
' '' much more, for over and above what they had, I am 
' '' absolute mistress of the kingdom of Matamba ! " A 
^ remark which shows how little she realised the mean- 
' ing of the term " Creation." ' The negroes in Guinea 
thought that man was created by a great black spider.^ 
The Bongos of Soudan ' have no conception of there 
' being a Creator.' ^ Other negroes, however, have more 
just ideas on the subject, probably derived from the 
missionaries. 

The Kumis of Chittagong believe that ^ certain 
Deity made the world and the trees and the creeping 
things, and lastly ' he set to work to make one man and 
' one woman, forming their bodies of clay ; but each 
' night, on the completion of his work, there came a 
' great snake which, while God was sleeping, devoured 
' the two images.' ^ At length the Deity created a dog 
which drove away the snake, and thus the creation of 
man was accomplished. 

^ Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. xvi. ^ Heart of Africa; -vol. ii. p. 306. 

p. 305. ^ Lewin's Hill Tracts of Chitta- 

2 Ibid. p. 459. gong, p. 90. 

c c 2 



388 FBAYEB 

We cannot fail also to be struck with the fact that 
the lower forms of religion are almost independent of 
Prayer. To ns prayer seems almost a necessary part 
of religion. But it evidently involves a belief in the 
goodness of God, a truth which, as we have seen, is not 
early recognised. 

Mr. Man, while maintaining that the Andaman 
Islanders believed in the existence of Spirits, admits 
that they did not worship or pray to them.^ 

Of the Hottentots Kolben says, ' It is most certain 
' they neither pray to any one of their deities nor utter 
' a word to any mortal concerning the condition of their 
' souls or a future life.' . . . Even those negroes, 
says Bosman, who have a faint conception of a higher 
Deity, ' do not pray to him, or offer any sacrifices to 
' him, for which they give the following reasons : — 
' '' Grod," say they, "is too high exalted above us, and 
' " too great to condescend so much as to trouble him- 
' " self, or think of mankind." ' ^ 

The Mandingoes, according to Park, regard the 
Deity as ' so remote, and of so exalted a nature, that it 
' is idle to imagine the feeble supplications of wretched 
' mortals can reverse the decrees, and change the pur- 
' poses, of unerring Wisdom.' ^ They seem, however, 
to have little confidence in their own views, and generally 
assured Park, in answer to his enquiries about religion 
and the immortality of the soul, that ' no man knows 
' anything about it.' ' The uncontaminated African,' 
says Livingstone, believes that the Great Spirit lives 
above the stars, 'but they never pray to him.'^ 



^ Man, Jour. Antkr. Inst., 1882. ^ Park's Travels, vol. i. p. 267. 

2 Bosman, loc. cit. p. 493. ^ Zambesi, p. 147. 



PBAYEU 389 

' Neither among the Eskimos nor Tinne,' says Ricliard- 
son, ' could I ascertain that prayer was ever made to 
' the " Kitche Manito,^' the Great Spirit or " Master of 
' " Life." ' ' Dr. Prescott, in Schoolcraft's ' Indian 
' Tribes/ also states that the North American Indians 
do not pray to the Great Spirit.^ The Caribs consider 
that the Good Spirit ' is endued with so great goodness 
' that it does not take any revenge even of its enemies ; 
' whence it comes that they render it neither honour 
' nor adoration.' ^ 

The Karens are said to believe in a supreme God, 
but they worship him not with prayer or praise, or any 
kind of service.* 

According to Metz, the Todas (Neilgherry Hills) 
never pray. Even among the priests, he says, ' the 
' only sign of adoration that I have ever seen them 
' perform is lifting the right hand to the forehead, 
' covering the nose with the thumb, when entering the 
' sacred dairy : and the words, " May all be well ! " are 
' all that I have ever heard them utter in the form of a 
' prayer.' ^ Marshall, however, gives a different account. 
According to him,^ the Todas do pray and their prayers 
are of the most matter-of-fact description. Every man, 
as he enters his hut at night, turns round and mutters 
to himself, ' May it be well with the male children, the 
' men, the cows, the female calves, and everything ; ' in 
which latter expression the women and female children 

^ Richardson's Boat Journey, ^ M'Mahon, Tlie Karens of the 

vol. i. p. 44. Gold. Chersonese, p. 91. 

^ Prescott, Schoolcraft's Indian ^ Tribes of the Neilgherries, 

Trihes, vol. iii. p. 226. p. 27. 

3 Tertre's History of the Oaribby ^ Marshall's Todas, p. 71. 

Islands, p. 278. 



390 FBAYEB-TEE TEMPTEB 

must be included, if they are included at all. The 
material character of their religious views is amusingly 
indicated by the remark of a Toda with reference to the 
' Pekkans,' which is the poorest of the Toda clans, and 
has no holy place : ' Aha,' he said, they are ' poor, 
' they do not want a god.' 

A very different objection to prayer (in the sense of 
a request for material benefits) was expressed by Tomo- 
chichi, the Chief of the Yamacraws (North America), to 
General Oglethorpe : ^ ' that the asking for any par- 
' ticular blessing looked to him like directing God ; and, 
' if so, that it must be a very wicked thing. That 
' for his part he thought everything that happened in 
' the world was as it should be ; that God of him - 
' self would do for everyone what was consistent 
' with the good of the whole ; and that our duty to 
' him was to be content with whatever happened in 
' general, and thankful for all the good that happened 
^ in particular.' 

The connection between morality and religion will 
be considered in a later chapter. Here, I will only 
observe that the deities of the lower races, being subject 
to the same passions as man, and in many cases, indeed, 
themselves monsters of iniquity, regarded crime with 
indifference, so long as the religious ceremonies and 
sacrifices in their honour were not neglected. Hence 
it follows that through all these lower races there is no 
idea of any Being corresponding to Satan. So far, in- 
deed, as their deities are evil they may be so called ; 
but the essential character of Satan is that of the 
Tempter ; hence in the order of succession this idea 

^ Jones, Antiquities of the Southern Indians, p. 421. 



THU PBOGBESS OF RELIGION 391 

cannot arise until morality has become connected with 
religion. 

It is impossible to imagine a greater contrast than 
that presented by Christianity and Buddhism, which, in 
spite of some remarkable outward resemblances to 
Roman Catholicism, diiFers most essentially in its tenets, 
teaching that every virtuous act is infallibly rewarded ; 
every sin inevitably punished, and being, as Col. Tallboys 
Wheeler says, ' a religion without Gods, without Priests 
' properly so called, and without sacrifices, penances, 
' or supplications to Deity.' ^ 

Thus, then, I have endeavoured to trace the gradual 
development of religion among the lower races of man. 

The lower savages regard their deities as scarcely 
more powerful than themselves ; they are evil, not 
good ; they are to be propitiated by sacrifices, not by 
prayer ; they are not creators ; they are neither omni- 
scient nor all-powerful ; they neither reward the good 
nor punish the evil ; far from conferring immortality 
on man, they are not even in all cases immortal them- 
selves. 

Where the material elements of civilisation developed 
themselves without any corresponding increase of know- 
ledge, as, for instance, in Mexico and Peru, a more cor- 
rect idea of Divine power, without any corresponding 
enlightenment as to the Divine nature, led to a religion 
of terror, which finally became a terrible scourge of 
humanity. 

Gradually, however, an increased acquaintance with 
the laws of nature enlai'ged the mind of man. He first 
supposed that the Deity fashioned the earth, raising it 

^ Wheeler, Hist, of India, vol. iii. p. 97. 



392 THE PBOGBESS OF BELIGION 

out of the water, and preparing it as a dwelling-place 
for man, and subsequently realised the idea that land 
and water were alike created by Divine power. After 
regarding spirits as altogether evil, he rose to a belief 
in good as well as in evil deities, and, gradually sub- 
ordinating the latter to the former, worshipped the 
good spirits alone as gods, the evil sinking to the level 
of demons. From believing only in ghosts, he came 
gradually to the recognition of the soul : at length 
uniting this belief with that in a beneficent and just 
Behig, he connected Morality with Keligion ; a step 
the importance of which it is scarcely possible to over- 
estimate. 

Thus we see that as men rise in civilisation, their 
rehgion rises with them. The Australians dimly 
imagine a being, spiteful, malevolent, but weak, and 
dangerous only in the dark. The Negro's deity is 
more powerful, but not less hateful — invisible, indeed, 
but subject to pain, mortal like himself, and liable to 
be made the slave of man by enchantment. The 
deities of the South Sea Islanders are, some good, some 
evil ; but, on the whole, more is to be feared from 
the latter than to be hoped from the former. They 
fashioned the land, but are not truly creators, for 
earth and water existed before them. They do not 
punish the evil, nor reward the good. They watch 
over the affairs of men ; but if, on the one hand, witch- 
craft has no power over them, neither, on the other, 
can prayer influence them — they require to share the 
crops or the booty of their worshippers. 

It appears, then, that every increase in science — 
that is, in positive and ascertained knowledge — brings 



SCIENCE AND RELIGION 393 

with it an elevation of religion. Nor is this progress 
confined to the lower races. Even within the last cen- 
tury, science has purified the religion of Western 
Europe by rooting out the dark belief in witchcraft, 
which led to thousands of executions, and hung like a 
black pall over the Christianity of the middle ages. 

The immense service which Science has thus ren- 
dered to the cause of Religion and of Humanity, has 
not hitherto received the recognition which it deserves. 
Science is still regarded by many excellent, but narrow- 
minded, persons as hostile to religious truth, while in 
fact she is only opposed to religious error. No doubt 
her influence has always been exercised in opposition 
to those who present contradictory assertions under the 
excuse of mystery, as well as to all but the highest con- 
ceptions of Divine power. The time, however, is ap- 
proaching when it will be generally perceived that, so 
far from Science being opposed to Religion, true Religion 
is, without Science, impossible ; and if we consider the 
various aspects of Christianity as understood by dif- 
ferent nations, we can hardly fail to see that the 
dignity, and therefore the truth, of their religious be- 
liefs, is in direct relation to their knowledge of Science 
and of the great physical laws by which our universe is 
governed. 



394 



CHAPTER IX. 

CHARACTER AND MORALS. 

THE accounts which we possess of the character 
of savage races are conflicting and unsatisfac- 
tory. In some cases travellers have expressed strong 
opinions, for which they had obviously no sufficient 
foundation. Thus the unfortunate La Perouse, who 
spent only one day on Easter Island, states his belief 
that the inhabitants ' are as corrupt as the circum- 
' stances in which they are placed will permit them to 
' be.' ^ On the other hand, the Friendly Islanders were 
so called by CajDtain Cook on account of the apparent 
kindness and hospitality with which they received him. 
Yet, as we now know, this appearance of friendship 
was entirely hypocritical. The natives endeavoured to 
lull him into security, with the intention of seizing his 
ship and massacring the crew ; which design a fortu- 
nate accident alone prevented them from carrying into 
effect ; yet Captain Cook never had the slightest sus- 
picion of their treachery, or of the danger which he so 
narrowly escaped. 

In some cases the same writer gives accounts totally 
at variance with one another. Thus Mr. Ellis,^ the ex- 

^ La P^rouse's Voyage, Englisli ^ Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. 

edition, vol. ii. p. 327. p. 25. 



THE OHABACTEB OF SAVAGES 395 

cellent missionary of the Pacific, states that the moral 
character of the Tahitians was • awfully dark, and 
' notwithstanding the apparent mildness of their dispo- 
' sition, and the cheerful vivacity of their conversation, 
' no portion of the human race was ever, perhaps, sunk 
' lower in brutal licentiousness and moral degradation.' 
Yet, speaking of this same people, and in the very 
same volume, he tells us that they were most anxious 
to obtain bibles : on the day when they were to be distri- 
buted the natives came from considerable distances, and 
' the place was actually thronged until the copies were 
' expended. In their application at our own houses we 
' found it impossible to restrain the people, so great was 

* their anxiety.' Under these circumstances we cannot 
wonder that Captain Cook and other navigators found 
in them much to admire as well as to condemn. 

The Kalmucks, again, have been very differently 
described by different travellers. Pallas, speaking of 
their characters, says, ' II m'a paru infinimentmeilleur que 

* ne I'ont depeint plusieurs de nos historiens voyageurs.' ^ 

So also the aboriginal tribes of India, as pointed out 
by Mr. Hunter,^ have been painted in the blackest 
colours by some, and highly praised by others. 

Mariner gives an excellent account of the state of 
manners among the Tongans, and one which well illus- 
trates the difiiculty of arriving at correct ideas on such 
a subject, especially among a people of a different race 
from ourselves and in a different state of civilisation. 
He describes them as loyal ^ and pious,^ obedient 

^ Voyages, vol. i. p. 499. High Asia, pp. 6, 9. 

^ Comparative Dictionary of the ^ Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 155. 

Non-Aryan Languages of India and ^ P. 154. 



396 DIFFICULTY OF ASCERTAINING 

children/ affectionate parents/ kind husbands/ modest 
and faithful wives/ and true friends.^ 

On the other hand, they seem to have had little 
feeling of morality. They ' had no words for justice or 
' injustice, for cruelty or humanity.' ^ ' Theft, revenge, 
' rape, and murder under many circumstances are not 
' held to be crimes.' They had no idea of future rewards 
and punishments. They saw no harm in seizing ships 
by treachery and murdering the crews. The men were 
cruel, treacherous, and revengeful. Marriages were 
terminable at the whim of the husband,^ and, except- 
ing in married women, chastity was not regarded as a 
virtue, though it was thought improper for a woman 
frequently to change her lover. Yet we are told that, 
on the whole,^ this system, although so opposed to our 
feelings, had 'not the least appearance of any bad effect. 
' The women were tender, kind mothers, the children 
* well cared for.' Both sexes appeared to be contented 
and happy in their relations to each other, and ' as i<9 
' domestic quarrels, they were seldom known.' We 
must not judge them too hardly for their proposed 
treachery to Captain Cook. Even in Northern Europe 
shipwrecks were long considered fair spoil, the strangers 
being connected with the natives by no civil or family 
ties, and the idea of natural right not being highly 
developed.^ With some seafaring peoples it even seemed 
to be impious and wrong to succour those whom the 
gods of the waters had endeavoured to destroy. 



1 p. 155. 


6 P. 148. 


2 P. 179. 


' P. 167. 


3 P. 179. 


« P. 177. 


^ P. 170. 


^ See Montesquieu, Esprit des 


5 P. 152. 


Lois, vol. ii. p. 199. 



THE CHABAGTEB OF SAVAGE RACES 397 

Lastly, if, in addition to the other sources of diffi- 
culty, we remember that of language, we cannot wonder 
that the characters of savage races have been so differ- 
ently described by different travellers. We all know 
how difficult it is to judge an individual, and it must 
be much more so to judge a nation. In fact, whether 
any given writer praises or blames a particular race, 
depends at least as much on his own character as on 
that of the people. 

On the whole, however, I think we may assume 
that life and property are far less secure in savage than 
in civilised communities ; and though the guilt of a 
murder or a theft may be very different under different 
circumstances, to the sufferer the result is much the 
same. 

Mr. Galbraith, who lived for many years, as Indian 
agent, among the Sioux (North America), thus describes 
them : ^ They are ' bigoted, barbarous, and exceedingly 
' superstitious. They regard most of the vices as 
' virtues. Theft, arson, rape, and murder are among 
' them regarded as the means of distinction ; and the 
' young Indian from childhood is taught to regard 
' killino; as the hio^hest of virtues. In their dances, and 
' at their feasts, the warriors recite their deeds of theft, 
' pillage, and slaughter as precious things ; and the 
' highest, indeed the only, ambition of a young brave is 
' to secure *• the feather," which is but a record of his 
' having murdered or participated in the murder of 
' some human being — whether man, woman, or child, 
' it is immaterial ; and, after he has secured his first 
' " feather," appetite is whetted to increase the number 

1 Ethn. Journal, 1869, p. 304. 



398 AB8ENGE OF THE IDEA OF 

' in his cap, as an Indian brave is estimated by tlie 
' number of his feathers.' 

In Tahiti the missionaries considered that ' not less 
' than two-thirds of the children were murdered by their 
' parents.' ^ Mr. Ellis adds, ' I do not recollect having 
' met with a female in the islands during the whole 
' period of my residence there, who had been a mother 
' while idolatry prevailed, who had not imbrued her 
' hands in the blood of her oiFspring.' Mr. Nott also 
makes the same assertion. Girls were more often killed 
than boys, because they were of less use in fishing and 
in war. 

Mr. Wallace maintains that savages act up to their 
simple moral code at least as well as we do ; but if a 
man's simple moral code permits him to rob or murder, 
that may be some excuse for him, but it is little conso- 
lation to the sufferer. 

As a philosophical question, however, the relative 
character of different races is less interesting than the 
moral condition of the lower races of mankind as a 
whole. 

Mr. Wallace, in the concluding chapter of his in- 
teresting work on the Malay Archipelago, has expressed 
the opinion that while civilised communities ' have 
^ progressed vastly beyond the savage state in intel- 
' lectual achievements, we have not advanced equally in 
' morals.' Nay, he even goes further : in a perfect social 
state, he says, ' every man would have a sufficiently 
' well balanced intellectual organisation to understand 
^ the moral law in all its details, and would require no 
^ other motive but the free impulses of his own nature 
^ Polynesian Researches, vol. i. pp. 334, 340, 



MORALITY AMONG SAVAGES 399 

^ to obey that law. Now, it is very remarkable tbat 
' among people in a very low state of civilisation, we 
^ find some approach to such a perfect social state ; ' 
and he adds, ' it is not too much to say that the mass of 
' our populations have not at all advanced beyond the 
^ savage code of morals, and have in many cases sunk 
' below it.' 

Far fi:*om thinking this true, I should rather be 
disposed to say that Man has, perhaps, made more 
progress in moral than in either material or intellectual 
advancement ; for while even the lowest savages have 
many material and intellectual attainments, they are, it 
seems to me, almost entirely wanting in moral feeling ; 
though I am aware that the contrary opinion has been 
expressed by many eminent authorities. 

Thus Lord Kames^ assumes as an undoubted fact 
^ that every individual is endued with a sense of right 
^ and wrong, more or less distinct ; ' and after admit- 
ting that very difi'erent views as to morals are held by 
different people and different races, he remarks, ' these 

* facts tend not to disprove the reality of a common 
' sense in morals ; they only prove that the moral sense 
' has not been equally perfect at all times, nor in all 

* countries.' 

Hume expresses the same opinion in very decided 
language. ' Let a man's insensibility,' he says, ' be ever 
' so gi-eat, he must often be touched with the images of 
' right and wrong ; and let his prejudices be ever so 
' obstinate he must observe that others are susceptible 
' of like impressions.' ^ Nay, he even maintains that 

^ History of Man, vol. ii. p. 9 ; vol. iv. p. 18. 
. ^ Hmne's Essays, vol. ii. p. 203. 



400 THE SENSE OF EIGHT AND WRONG 

* those who have denied the reality of moral distinctions 

* may be ranked among the disingenuous disputants ; 
' nor is it conceivable that any human creature could 
^ ever seriously believe that all characters and actions 

* were alike entitled to the affection and regard of every 
^ one.' 

Locke, on the other hand, questions the existence 
of innate principles, and terminates his chapter on the 
subject in the following words: 'It is reasonable,' he 
says,^ ^ to demand the marks and characters, whereby 
^ the genuine innate principles may be distinguished 
' from others ; and so, amidst the great variety of pre- 
' tenders I may be kept from mistakes in so material 
' a point as this. When this is done I shall be ready 
' to embrace such welcome and useful propositions ; 
' and till then I may with modesty doubt, since I fear 
' universal consent, which is the only one produced 
' will scarce prove a sufficient mark to direct my choice, 
' and assure me of any innate principles. From what 
' has been said, I think it past doubt that there are no 
' practical principles wherein all men agree ; and there - 
' fore none innate.' 

Let us now see what light is thrown on this in- 
teresting question by the study of savage life. Mr. 
Wallace draws a charming picture of some small savage 
communities which he has visited. Each man, he says, 
scrupulously respects the rights of his fellow, and any 
infraction of those rights rarely or never takes place. 
In such a community all are nearly equal. There are 
none of those wide distinctions of education and igno- 
rance, wealth and poverty, master and servant, which 

^ On the Human Understanding, book i. ch. 3, sec. 2. 



LIFE IN SMALL SAVAGE COMMUNITIES 401 

' are the product of our civilisation : there is none of 
' that widespread division of labour, which while it in- 
' creases wealth, produces also conflicting interests ; there 
' is not that severe competition and struggle for existence, 
' or for wealth, which the population of civilised countries 
' inevitably creates.' 

But does this prove that they are in a high moral 
condition ? Does it prove even that they have any 
moral sense at all ? Surely not. For if it does, we 
must equally credit rooks and bees, and most other 
gregarious animals, with a moral state higher than that 
of civilised man. I would not indeed venture to assert 
that the ant or the bee is not possessed of moral feel- 
ings, but we are surely not in a position to affirm 
it. In the very passage quoted, Mr. Wallace has 
pointed out that the inducements to crime are in small 
communities much less than in populous countries. 
The absence of crime, however, does not constitute 
virtue ; and, without temptation, mere innocence has no 
merit. 

Moreover, in small communities almost all the mem- 
bers are related to one another, and family affection 
puts on the appearance of virtue. But though parental 
and filial affection possess a very moral aspect, they 
have a totally different origin and a distinct character. 
To do a thing which is right is by no means the same 
as to do it because it is right. 

We do not generally attribute moral feelings to 
quadrupeds and birds, yet perhaps among animals 
there is no stronger feeling than that of the mother for 
her offspring. She will submit to any sacrifices for 
their welfare, and fight against almost any odds for 

D D 



\ 



402 INSECURITY OF LIFE AND PBOPEBTY 

their protection. No follower of Mr. Darwin will be sur- 
prised at this, because for generation after generation 
those mothers in whom this feeling was most strong 
have had the best chance of rearmg their young. It is 
not, however, moral feeling in the strict sense of the 
term ; and she would, indeed, be a cold-hearted mother 
who cherished and protected her infant only because it 
was right to do so. 

Family affection and moral feeling have, indeed, been 
very generally confused together by travellers, yet there 
is some direct testimony which appears to show that the 
moral condition of savages is really much lower than has 
been usually supposed. 

Thus Mr. Dove, speaking of the Tasmanians, asserts 
that they were entirely ' without any moral views and 
' impressions.' 

Governor Eyre says of the Australians that, 'having 
'no moral sense of what is just and equitable in the 
' abstract, their only test of propriety must in such 
' cases be, whether they are numerically or physically 
' strong enough to brave the vengeance of those whom 
'they may have provoked or injured.'^ Mr. Ridley 
tells us^ that he had very great difficulty in conveying 
to the nations of Australia any idea of sin, and 
eventually he could only describe it by the following 
roundabout expression : ' Nyeane kauungo warawara 
' yanani.' 

' Conscience,' says Burton, ' does not exist in Eastern 
' Africa, and " repentance " expresses regret for missed 
' opportunities of mortal crime. Robbery constitutes 

^ Discoveries in Central Australia, vol. ii. p. 384. 
^ Queensland, p. 442. 



AMONG SAVAGES 403 

' an honourable man ; murder — the more atrocious the 
' midnight crime the better — makes the hero.' -^ 

The Yoruba negroes, on the West Coast of Africa, 
according to the same author,^ ' are covetous, cruel, and 
' wholly deficient in what the civilised man calls con- 
' science ; ' though it is right to add that some of his 
other statements with reference to this tribe seem 
opposed to this view. 

Mr. Neighbors states that among the Comanches of 
Texas ' no individual action is considered a crime, but 
' ever}" man acts for himself according to his own judg- 
' ment, unless some superior power — for instance, that 
^ of a popular chief — should exercise authority over him. 
' They believe that when they were created the Great 
' Spirit gave them the privilege of a free and uncon- 
' strained use of their individual faculties.'^ 

The Kacharis, according to Dalton, had ' in their 
' own language no words for sin, for piety, for prayer, 
' for repentance.' ^ 

The Damaras ' seem to have no perceptible notion 
' of right or wrong.' ^ Speaking of the Kaffirs, Mr. 
Casalis, who lived for twenty-three years in South 
Africa, says*" that ' morality among these people depends 
' so entirely upon social order that all political disor- 
' ganisation is immediately followed by a state of de- 
' generacy, which the re- establishment of order alone 
' can rectify.' Thus, then, although their language 
contained words signifying most of the virtues, as well 

^ Burton's First Footsteps in vol. ii. p. 131. 
East Africa, p. 176. ^ Des. Ethn. of Bengal, p. 85. 

2 Abeokuta, yoL i. p. 303. See ^ Galton, loc. cit. p. 72. 

also vol. ii. p. 218. ^ The Basutos, p. 300. 

^ Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, 

D D 3 



404 SECURITY DEPENDENT ON LAW AND CUSTOM 

as the vices, it would appear from the above passages 
that their moral quality was not clearly recognised. It 
must be confessed, however, that the evidence is not 
very conclusive, as Mr. Casalis, even in the same 
chapter, expresses an opinion on the point scarcely 
consistent with that quoted above. 

Similar accounts are given as regards Central Africa. 
Thus at Jenna,^ and in the surrounding districts, ' w^hen- 

* ever a town is deprived of its chief, the inhabitants 

* acknowledge no law — anarchy, troubles, and confusion 
' immediately prevail, and till a successor is appointed 

* all labour is at an end. The stronger oppress the 
^ weak, and consummate every species of crime, with- 

* out being amenable to any tribunal for their actions. 
' Private property is no longer respected ; and thus, 
' before a person arrives to curb its licentiousness, a 
^ town is not unfrequently reduced from a flourishing 
' state of prosperity and of happiness to all the horrors 
' of desolation.' Livingstone mentions^ a similar custom 
among the Banyai, a tribe living on the river Zambesi ; 
and the same state of things also occurred in the Sand- 
wich Islands.^ 

The Tongans, or Friendly Islanders, had in many 
respects made great advances, yet Mariner^ states that, 
' on a strict examination of their language, we discover 
^ no words essentially expressive of some of the higher 
' qualities of human merit : as virtue, justice, humanity ; 
' nor of the contrary : as vice, injustice, cruelty, &c. 
^ They have, indeed, expressions for these ideas, but 

^ E. and J. Lander's Niger Ex- 2 Travels in Soutli Africa, p. 624. 

pedition, vol. i. p. 96. Bosman, loc. ^ Gerland. Waltz's Anthr., vol. 

eit. p. 345. Dalzel, loc. cit. pp. 6, 7, vi. p. 203. 
151. 4 Tonga Islands, vol. ii. p. 147. 



BATHER THAN ON MORALITY 405 

* they are equally applicable to other things. To ex- 
' press a virtuous or good man, they would say 
' '^ tangata lille," a good man, or " tangata loto lille," a 
' man with a good mind ; but the word lille, good (un- 
' like our virtuous), is equally applicable to an axe, 
' canoe, or anything else ; again, they have no word to 
' express humanity, mercy, &c., but afa, which rather 
' means friendship, and is a word of cordial salutation.' 

Mr. Campbell observes that the Soors (one of the 
aboriginal tribes of India), ' while described as small, 
' mean, and very black, and like the Santals naturally 
^ harmless, peaceable, and industrious, are also said to 
^ be without moral sense.' ^ ^ The Redskin,' says Col. 
Dodge, ' has no moral sense whatever.' ^ 

The South American Indians of the Gran Chaco are 
said by the missionaries to ' make no distinction be- 
' tween right and wrong, and have therefore neither 
' fear nor hope of any present or future punishment or 

* reward, nor any mysterious terror of some super- 
' natural power, whom they might seek to assuage by 

* sacrifices or superstitious rites.' ^ 

Indeed, I do not remember a single instance in 
which a savage is recorded as having shown any symp- 
toms of remorse ; and almost the only case I can call to 
mind, in which a man belonging to one of the lower 
races has accounted for an act, by saying explicitly that 
; it was right, was when Mr. Hunt asked a young Fijian 
why he had killed his mother.* 



' G. Campbell, The Ethnology of ^ ^he Voice of Pity, vol. xi. 

India, p. 37. p. 220. 

2 Hunting Grounds of the Great * Wilkes' Voyage, p. 95. 

West, p. 273. 



406 WICKEDNESS OF SAVAGE DEITIES 

The evidence afforded by language is very sug- 
gestive. The words indicating good and evil and the 
different virtues, had, even in our own case, originally 
no moral signification. They are metaphors, sometimes, 
indeed, rather far-fetched. This seems to show that 
language is older than morality, for if the ideas of good 
and evil, right and wrong, had been themselves innate, 
surely we should have had original words for them. 

It is clear that religion, except in the more ad- 
vanced races, has no moral aspect or influence. The 
deities are almost invariably regarded as evil. 

In Fiji-^ 'the names of the gods indicate their 
' characters. Thus, as Williams tells us, Ndauthina 
' steals women of rank and beauty by night or torch- 
' light. Kumbunavanua is the rioter ; Mbatimona, the 
' brain eater ; Ravuravu, the murderer ; Mainatavasara, 
' fresh from the cutting-up or slaughter ; and a host 
' besides of the same sort.' 

In Peru ' every vice had its own especial deity.' ^ 

The character of the Greek gods is familiar to us, 
and was anything but moral. Such beings would not 
necessarily reward the good, or punish the evil. Hence 
it is not surprising that Socrates saw little connection 
between ethics and religion, or that Aristotle altogether 
separated morality from theology. Hence also we 
cannot be surprised to find that, even when a belief 
in a future state has dawned on the civilised mind, it is 
not at first associated with reward or punishment. 

The Australians, though they had a vague belief in 
ghosts, and supposed that after death they become 

^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. ^ Gorcilasso de la Vega, vol. i. 

p. 218. p. 124. 



MORALITY NOT FOUNDED ON BELIGION 407 

whitemen ; that, as they say, ' Fall down blackman, 
*jump up whiteman ; ' have no idea of retribution.-^ 
The Guinea negroes ' have no idea of future rewards or 
^ punishments for the good or ill actions of their past 
^ life.' ^ Other negro races, however, have more ad- 
vanced ideas on the subject. 

' The Tahitians believe in the immortality of the 
' soul, at least its existence in a separate state, and that 
' there are two situations of different degrees of happi- 
' ness, somewhat analogous to our heaven and hell : the 
/ superior situation they call " Tavirua I'erai," the other 
' '' Tiahoboo." They do not, however, consider them 
' as places of reward and punishment, but as receptacles 
' for different classes ; the first for their chiefs and 
' principal people, the other for those of inferior rank ; 
' for they do not suppose that their actions here in the 
' least influence their future state, or, indeed, that they 
' come under the cognisance of their deities at all.' ^ 
In Tonga and at Nukahiva the natives believe that 
their chiefs are immortal, but not the common people.^ 
The Tonga people, says Mariner, ' do not, mdeed, 
' believe in any future state of rewards and punish- 
' ments.' ^ 

Williams ^ tells us that ' offences, in Fijian estima- 
' tion, are light or grave according to the rank of the 
' offender. Murder by a chief is less heinous than a 
' petty larceny committed by a man of low rank. 

^ Voyage of the ' Fly,' vol. ii. ^ Klemm, vol. iv. p. 351. 

p. 22. ^ Tonga Islands, vol. ii. p. 147. 

2 Bosman, loc. cit. p. 401. Hale, U. S. Expl. Exp., p. 38. 

3 See Cook's Voyage round the '' Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. 
World in ,Hawkesworth's Voyages, p. 28. 

vol. ii. p. 239. 



408 FUTUEE LIFE NOT ONE OF 

' Only a few crimes are regarded as serious ; e.g. theft, 
' adultery, abduction, witchcraft, infringement of a 
' tabu, disrespect to a chief, incendiarism, and treason ; ' 
and he elsewhere mentions that the Fijians,^ though 
believing in a future existence, ' shut out from it the 
' idea of any moral retribution in the shape either of 
' reward or punishment.' In the religion of the Fi- 
jians, says Seemann, ' there does not seem to be any 
' separation between the abodes of the good and the 
' wicked, nothing that corresponds to our heaven and 
' hell.' ^ The Sumatrans, according to Marsden, ' had 
' some idea of a future life, but not as a state of retribu- 
' tion ; conceiving immortality to be the lot of a rich 
' rather than of a good man. I recollect that an 
' inhabitant of one of the islands farther eastwards 
' observed to me, with great simplicity, that only great 
' men went to the skies ; how should poor men find 
' admittance there ? ' ^ 

In the Island of Bintang,^ ' the people always con- 
' ceived present possession to constitute right, however 
' that possession might have been acquired ; but yet 
' they made no scruple of deposing and murdering their 
' sovereigns, and justified their acts by this argument : 
' that the fate of concerns so important as the lives of 
' kings was in the hands of God, whose vicegerents they 
' were, and that if it was not agreeable to him, and the 
' consequence of his will, that they should perish by 
' the daggers of their subjects, it could not so happen.' 



^ Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. ^ Marsden's History of Sumatra, 

p. 243. ■ p. 289. 

^ Seemami's Mission to Viti, ■* Ibid. p. 412. 

p. 400. 



PUNISHMENT OB EEWAEDS 409 

The Yeddahs of Ceylon had no idea of future rewards 
or punishments/ 

The Kookies of Chittagong ' have no idea of hell or 
' heaven, or of any punishment for evil deeds, or rewards 
' for good actions.' ^ Forsyth also makes a similar 
statement as regards the Gronds.^ According to Bailey, 
again, the Yeddahs of Ceylon ' have no idea of a future 
^ state of rewards and punishments.' ^ The Hos in 
Central India ' believe that the souls of the dead 
' become " bhoots," spirits, but no thought of reward or 
' punishment is connected with the change.' ^ 

Speaking of South Africa, Kolben ^ says, ' that the 
^ Hottentots believe in the immortality of the soul 
" has been shown in a foregoing chapter. But they 
' have no notion, that ever I could gather, of rewards 
' and punishments after death.' Chief Commissioner 
Warner remarks that the Kaffirs have ' not the slightest 
' knowledge of a future state of rewards and punish- 
' ments arising out of the moral quality of our actions 
' in this life.' ' 

In Dahome, according to Burton,^ the ' next world 
' offers none of those rewards and punishments by 
' which, according to the Semitic animist, the balance 
' of good and evil in this life is to be struck. He who 
' escapes punishment here is safe hereafter.' 



» Bailey, Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., ^ Dalton, Trans. Ethn. Soc, 1868, 

Tol. ii. p. 300. p. 38. 

^ Eennel, quoted in Le win's Hill ^' History of the Cape of Good 

Tracts of Chittagong, p. 110. Hope, vol. i. p. 314. 

^ Highlands of Central India, '^ Maclean's Compend. of Kaffir 

p. 145. Laws and Customs, p. 78. 

^ Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. ii. ^ Mission to Dahome, vol. ii. 

p. 300. p. 157. 



410 LAW AND BIGHT 

Among the Mexicans^ and Peruvians,^ again, the 
religion was entirely independent of moral considera- 
tions, and in some other parts of America the future 
condition is supposed to depend not on conduct but on 
rank.^ In North America ' it is rare,' says Tanner, ' to 
' observe among the Indians any ideas which would lead 
' to the belief that they look upon a future state as one 
' of retribution.' ^ 

Among the Siberian tribes the deities are supposed 
to reward those who conciliate them by worship and 
offerings, but to morality they are regarded as indif- 
ferent.^ In the great Chinese collection of poems ' there 
' are rewards and dignity for the good after death, but 
' nothing is said of any punishment for the bad.' ^ The 
Arabs and Afghans conceive that a broken oath brings 
misfortune on the place where it was uttered.^ 

Even among ourselves Emerson has pointed out 
that every word which we now use in a moral sense 
has originally a material signification. Right means 
straight, wrong twisted, &c.^ 

In fact, I believe that the lower races of men may 
be said to be deficient in the idea of Right, though 
quite familiar with that of Law. This leads to the 
curious, though not illogical, results mentioned in page 
406. 

That there should be any races of men so deficient 

^ Miiller, Ges. der Amer. Urre- Nations de I'Empire de Russie, 

ligion, p. 565. pt. iii. p. 146. 

^ Ibid. p. 410. But see Prescott, ^ The Sheking, translated by 

vol. i. p. 83. Mr. Legge, p. 48. 

^ Ibid. p. 139. See also pp. 289, '^ Klemm, Culturgescliichte, vol. 

565. iv. p. 190. Masson, Journeys in 

^ Tanner's Narrative, p. 369. Balochistan, &c., vol. ii. p. 258. 

^ Miiller, Des. de toutes les ^ Emerson's Nature, ch. iv. 



GROWTH OF MORAL FEELING 411 

in moral feeling, was altogether opposed to the precon- 
ceived ideas with which I commenced the study of 
savage life, and I have arrived at the conviction by 
slow degrees, and even with reluctance. I have, how- 
ever, been forced to this conclusion, not only by the 
direct statements of travellers, but also by the general 
tenor of their remarks, and especially by the remark- 
able absence of repentance and remorse among the lower 
races of men. 

On the whole, then, it appears to me that the moral 
feelings deepen with the gradual growth of a race. 

External circumstances, no doubt, exercise much 
influence on character. We very often see, however, 
that the possession of one virtue is counterbalanced by 
some corresponding defect. Thus the North American 
Indians are brave and generous, but they are also cruel 
and reckless of life. Moreover, in the early stages of 
law, motive is never considered ; a fact which shows 
how little hold morality has, even on communities 
which have made considerable progress. Some cases 
which have been quoted as illustrating the contrast 
between the ideas of virtue entertained by different 
races seem to prove the absence, rather than the perver- 
sity, of sentiment on the subject. I cannot believe, for 
instance, that theft and murder have ever been really 
regarded as virtues. In a barbarous state they were, 
no doubt, means of distinction, and in the absence of 
moral feelings were regarded with no reprobation. I 
cannot, however, suppose that they could be con- 
sidered as ' right,' though they might give rise to a 
feeling of respect, and even of admiration. So also 
the Greeks regarded the duplicity of Ulysses as an 



412 OBIQIN OF MORAL FEELING 

element iii his greatness, but surely not as virtue in 
itself. 

What, then, is the origin of moral feeling ? Some 
regard it as intuitive, as an original instinct implanted 
in the human mind. Herbert Spencer,^ on the contrary, 
maintains that ' moral intuitions are the results of accu- 
' mulated experiences of utility ; gradually organised 
' and inherited, they have come to be quite independent 
' of conscious experience. ' 

I cannot entirely subscribe to either of these views. 
The moral feelings are now, no doubt, intuitive ; but 
if the lower races of savages have none, they evidently 
cannot have been so originally, nor can they be regarded 
as natural to man. Neither can I accept the opposite 
theory. While entirely agreeing with Mr. Spencer that 
' there have been, and still are, developing in the race, 
' certain fundamental moral intuitions,' I feel, with 
Mr. Hutton, much difficulty in conceiving that, in Mr. 
Spencer's words^ ' these moral intuitions are the results 
' of the accumulated experiences of Utility ; ' that is to 
say, of Utility to the individual. When it is once real- 
ised that a given line of conduct would invariably be 
useful to the individual, it is at once regarded as ' saga- 
* cious ' rather than ' virtuous.' Virtue implies tempta- 
tion ; temptation indicates a feeling that a given action 
may benefit the individual at the expense of others, or 
in defiance of authority. It is evident, indeed, that 
feelings acting on generation after generation might 
produce a continually deepening conviction, but I fail 
to perceive how this explains the difi'erence between 
' right ' and ' utility.' 

^ Bain's Mental and Moral Science, p. 722. 



ORIGIN OF MORAL FEELING 413 

Yet utility in one sense has, I think, been naturally 
and yet unconsciously selected as the basis of morals. 
Mr. Button, if I understand him correctly, doubts this. 
Honesty, for instance, he says,^ 'must certainly have 
' been associated by our ancestors with many unhappy 
' as well as many happy consequences, and we know 
' that in ancient Greece dishonesty was openly and 
' actually associated with happy consequences, in the 
' admiration for the guile and craft of Ulysses.' 

This seems to me a good crucial case. Honesty, on 
their own part, may, indeed, have been, and no doubt 
was, ' associated by our ancestors with many unhappy 
' as well as many happy consequences ; ' but honesty on 
the part of others could surely have nothing but happy 
results. Thus, while the perception that ' honesty is 
* the best policy' was, no doubt, as Mr. Hutton observes, 
' long subsequent to the most imperious enunciation of 
' its sacredness as a duty,' honesty would be recognised 
as a virtue so soon as men perceive the sacredness 
of any duty. As soon as contracts were entered into 
between individuals or states it became manifestly the 
interest of each that the other should be honest. Any 
failure in this respect would naturally be condemned by 
the suiFerer. It is precisely because honesty is some- 
times associated with unhappy consequences, that it is 
regarded as a virtue. If it had always been directly 
advantageous to all parties, it would have been classed 
as useful, not as right ; it would have lacked the essen- 
tial element which entitles it to rank as a virtue. 

Or take respect for Age. We find, even in Aus- 
tralia, laws, if I may so term them, appropriating the 

1 Macmillan's Magazine, 1869, p. 271. 



414 ORIGIN OF MOBAL FEELING 

best of everything to the old men. Naturally the 
old men lose no opportmiity of impressing these injunc- 
tions on the young ; they praise those who conform and 
condemn those who resist. Hence the custom is 
strictly adhered to. I do not say, that to the Australian 
mind this presents itself as a sacred duty ; but it would, 
I think, in the course of time have come to be so con- 
sidered. 

For when a race had made some progress in intel- 
lectual development, a difference would certainly be 
felt between those acts which a man was taught to do 
as conducive to his own direct advantage, and those 
which were not so, and yet which were enjoined for 
any other reason. Hence would arise the idea of 7ight 
and duty, as distinct from mere utility. 

How much more our notions of right depend on the 
lessons we receive when young than on hereditary 
ideas, becomes evident, if we consider the different 
moral codes existing in our own country. Nay, even 
in the very same individual, two contradictory systems 
may often be seen side by side in incongruous associa- 
tion. 

Lastly, it may be observed that in our own case 
religion and morality are closely connected together. 
Yet the sacred character, which forms an integral part 
in our conception of duty, could not arise until Religion 
became moral. Nor would this take place until the 
deities were conceived to be beneficent beings. As 
soon, however, as this was the case, they would natu- 
rally be supposed to regard with approbation all that 
tended to benefit their worshippers, and to condemn all 
actions of the opposite character. This step was an 



OBIGIN OF MORAL FEELING 415 

immense benefit to mankind, since that dread of the 
unseen powers which had previously been wasted on 
the production of mere ceremonies and sacrifices, at 
once invested the moral feelings with a sacredness, and 
consequently with a force, w^hich they had not until 
then possessed. 

Authority, then, seems to me the origin, and utility, 
though not in the manner suggested by Mr. Spencer, 
the criterion, of virtue. Mr. Hutton, however, in the 
concluding paragraph of his interesting paper, urges 
that surely, if this were the case, by this time ' some 6>?z^ 
' elementary moral law should be as deeply ingrained 
' in human practice as the geometrical law that a 
' straight line is the shortest way between two points.' 
I see no such necessity. A child whose parents belong 
to difi*erent nations, with different moral codes, would, 
I suppose, have the moral feeling deep, and yet might 
be without any settled ideas as to particular moral 
duties. And this is in reality our own case. Our ances- 
tors have now for many generations had a feeling that 
some actions were right and some were wrong, but at 
different times they have had very different codes of 
morality. Hence we have a deeply- seated moral feel- 
ing, and yet, as anyone who has children may satisfy 
himself, no such decided moral code. Children have a 
deep feeling of right and wrong, but no such decided or 
intuitive conviction as to which actions are right and 
which are wrong. 



416 



CHAPTER X. 

LANGUAGE. 

ALTHOUGH it has been at various times stated 
that certain savage tribes are entirely without 
language, none of these accounts appear to be well 
authenticated, and they are a priori extremely improb- 
able. 

At any rate, even the lowest races of which we 
have any satisfactory account possess a language, im- 
perfect though it may be, and eked out to a great 
extent by signs. I do not suppose, however, that this 
custom has arisen from the absence of words to repre- 
sent their ideas, but rather because in all countries 
inhabited by savages the number of languages is very 
great, and hence there is a great advantage in being 
able to communicate by signs. 

Thus James, in his expedition to the Eocky Moun- 
tains, speaking of the Kiawa-Kashaia Indians, says, 
' These nations, although constantly associating toge- 
' ther and united under the influence of the Bear- Tooth, 
' are yet totally ignorant of each other's language, inso- 
' much that it was no uncommon occurrence to see two 
' individuals of different nations sitting upon the ground 
' and conversing freely by means of the language of 
' signs. In the art of thus conveying their ideas they 
' were thorough adepts ; and their manual display was 



GESTURE LANGUAGE 417 

' only interrupted at remote intervals by a smile, or by 
' the auxiliary of an articulated word of the language 
' of the Crow Indians, which to a very limited extent 
' passes current among them.' ^ Fisher,^ also, speaking 
of the Comanches and various surrounding tribes, 
says that they have ' a language of signs by which 
all Indians and trades can understand one another ; 
and they always make these signs when communicat- 
ing among themselves. The men, when conversing 
together, in their lodges, sit upon skins, cross-legged 
like a Turk, and speak and make signs in corrobora- 
tion of what they say, with their hands, so that either 
a blind or a deaf man could understand them. For 
instance, I meet an Indian, and wish to ask him if he 
saw six waggons drawn by horned cattle, with three 
Mexican and three American teamsters, and a man 
mounted on horseback. I make these signs : — I point 
"you," then to his eyes, meaning " see ;" then hold 
up all my fingers on the right hand and the forefinger 
on the left, meanino^ '' six : " then I make two circles bv 
bringing the ends of my thumbs and forefingers to- 
gether, and, holding my two hands out, move my 
wrists in such a way as to indicate waggon wheels 
revolving, meaning " waggons ; " then, by making an 
upward motion with each hand from both sides of my 
head, I indicate " horns," signifying horned cattle ; 
then by first holding up three fingers, and then by 
placing my extended right hand below my lower lip 
and moving it downward stopping in mid way down 
the chest, I indicate " beard," meaning Mexican ; and 

^ See James, Expedition to the - Trans. Ethn. Soc, 1869, vol. i. 

Rocky Mountains, vol. iii. p. 62, p. 283. 

E E 



4].8 OBSTUBE LANGUAGE 

" with three fingers again, and passing my right hand 
' fi:*oni left to right in front of my forehead, I indicate 
' " white brow " or " pale face." I then hold up my 
' forefinger, meaning one man, and by placing the fore- 
' finger of my left hand between the fore and second 
' finger of my right hand, representing a man astride 
' of a horse, and by moving my hands up and down, 
' give the motion of a horse galloping with a man on 
'his back. I in this way ask the Indian, " You see 
' " six waggons, horned cattle, three Mexicans, three 
' " Americans, one man on horseback ? " If he holds 
' up his forefinger and lowers it quickly, as if he was 
' pointing at some object on the ground, he means 
' " Yes ; " if he moves it from side to side, upon the 
' principle that people sometimes move their head from 
' side to side, he means '* No." The time required to 
' make these signs would be about the same as if you 
' asked the question verbally.' The Bushmen also are 
said to intersperse their language with so many signs 
that they are unintelligible in the dark, and, when they 
want to converse at night are compelled to collect 
round their camp fires. So also Burton tells us that 
the Arapahos of North America, ' who possess a very 
' scanty vocabulary, can hardly converse with one 
' another in the dark ; to make a stranger understand 
' them they must always repair to the camp fire for 
' pow-wow.' ^ 

Morgan mentions a case in which a couple, who 
had been married three years, conversed entirely by 
signs ; the man being a Blackfoot Indian, the woman an 

1 City of the Saints, p. 151. 



THE OBIQIN OF LANGUAGE 419 

Ahahnelin, and neither understanding a word of each 
other's language.-^ 

A very interesting account of the sign-language, 
especially with reference to that used by the deaf and 
dumb, is contained in Tylor's ' Early History of Man.' 
But although signs may serve to convey ideas in a 
manner which would probably surprise those who have 
not studied this question ; still it must be admitted that 
they are far inferior to the sounds of the voice ; which, 
as already mentioned, are used for this purpose by all 
the races of men with whom we are acquainted. 

Language, as it exists among all but the lowest 
races, although far from perfect, is yet so rich in terms, 
and possesses in its grammar so complex an organisation, 
that we cannot wonder at those who have attributed to 
it a divine and miraculous origin. Nay, their view may 
be admitted as correct, but only in that sense in which 
a ship or a palace may be so termed : they are human 
in so far as they have been worked out by man ; divine, 
inasmuch as in doing so he has availed himself of the 
powers which Providence has given him.^ 

M. Renan^ draws a distinction between the origin 
of words and that of language, and as regards the latter 



^ System of Consanguinity, p. ' stood allegoricaUy, according to the 

227. 'opinions of some divines.' He for- 

'^ Lord Monboddo, in combating gets, however, that those who regard 

those who regard language as a language as a miracle, do so in the 

revelation, expresses a hope that he teeth of the express statement in 

will not, on that account, he supposed Genesis that God brought the ani- 

to ' pay no respect to the account mals ' unto Adam to see what he 

' given in our sacred books of the ' would call them : and whatsoever 

* origin of our species ; but it does not ' Adam called every living creature, 
'belong to me,' he adds, ' as a philo- ' that was the name thereof.' 

* sopher or grammarian, to enquire ^ De I'Origine du Langage, 

* whether such account is to be under- p. 16. 

E E 2 



420 THE OBIGIN OF LANGUAGE 

says : ' Je persiste done, apres dix ans de nouvelles 
' etudes, a envisager le langage coaime forme d'un seul 
' coup, et comme sorti instantanement du genie de 
'chaque race,' a theory which involves that of the 
plurality of human species. No doubt the complexity 
and apparent perfection of the grammar among very 
low races, is at first sight very surprising ; but we must 
remember that the langaage of children is more regular 
than ours. A child says, ' I goed,' ' I comed,' ' badder,' 
' baddest,' &c. Moreover, the preservation of a compli- 
cated system of grammar among savage tribes shows 
that such a system is natural to them, and n ot merely a 
survival from more civilised times. Indeed, we know 
that the tendency of civilisation is towards the simplifi- 
cation of grammatical forms. 

Nor must it by any means be supposed that com- 
plexity implies excellence, or even completeness, in a 
language. On the contrary, it often arises from a cum- 
bersome mode of supplying some radical defect. Adam 
Smith long ago pointed out that the verb ' to be ' is 
' the most abstract and metaphysical of all verbs, and 
' consequently could by no means be a word of early 
' invention.' And he suggests that the absence of this 
verb probably led to the intricacy of conjugations. 
' When,' he adds, ' it came to be invented, however, as 
^ it had all the tenses and modes of any other verb, by 
' being joined with the passive participle, it was capable 

* of supplying the place of the whole passive voice, and 
'of rendering this part of their conjugations as simple 
' and uniform, as the use of prepositions had rendered 

* their declensions.' ^ He goes on to point out that the 

^ Smith's Moral Sentiments, vol. ii. p. 426, 



TED AUXILIARY VERBS 421 

same remarks apply also to the possessive verb ^ I have,' 
which affected the active voice, as profoundly as ' I am ' 
influenced the passive ; thus, these two verbs between 
them, when once suggested, enabled mankind to relieve 
their memories, and thus unconsciously, but most 
eff'ectually, to simplify their grammar. 

In English we carry the same principle much fur- 
ther, and not only use the auxiliary verbs ' to have ' and 
' to be,' but also several others — as do, did ; will, would ; 
shall, should ; can, could ; may, might/ Adam Smith 
was, however, mistaken in supposing that the verb 
'to be ' exists ' in every language ; ' ^ on the contrary, 
the complexity of the North American languages is in a 
great measure due to its absence. The auxiliary verb 
' to be ' is entirely absent in most American languages, 
and the consequence is that they turn almost all their 
adjectives and nouns into verbs, and conjugate them, 
through all the tenses, persons, and moods.^ According 
to DobritzhofFer the Abipones and Gruaranis also want 
the verb ' to have.' The KafSr language also is stated 
by Lichten stein to be deficient in auxiliary verbs. 
' I am ' cannot be expressed in their language. 

Again, the Esquimaux, instead of using adverbs, 
conjugate the verb ; they have special terminations im- 
pl5dng ill, better, rarely, hardly, faithfully, &c.; hence 
such a word as aglekkigiartorasuarniarpok, ' he goes 
' away hastily and exerts himself to write.' ^ Some at 
least of the Dravidian languages are also without 

^ Smith's Moral Sentiments, p. Antiq. Soc, vol. ii. p. 176. Hale, 

432. U. S. Expl. Exp., p. 549. 

^ Loc. cit. p. 42(3. ^ Crantz, His. of Greenland, 

* See Gallatin, Trans. Amer. vol. i. p. 224. 



422 COPIOUS VOCABULARIES 

the verbs ' have,' ' be/ and also some Mantchou dia- 
lects/ 

In other cases the grammatical forms are but few. 
The language of Akra and Fantee, according to Wultke/ 
possesses only six conjunctions, no adverbs or preposi- 
tions, only one sex, no comparative, and no passive 
mood ; that of the Hottentots is said to have contained 
no auxiliary verbs. ^ 

The Grebos, an African tribe, are said to mark 
persons and tenses by gestures.^ 

The number of words in the languages of civilised 
races is no doubt immense. Chinese, for instance, 
contains 40,000 ; Todd's edition of Johnson, 58,000 ; 
Webster's Dictionary, 70,000 ; and Fliigel's German 
dictionary more than 65,000.^ The great majority of 
these, however, can be derived from certain original 
words, or roots which are very few in number. In 
Chinese there are about 450, Hebrew has been reduced to 
500, and Miiller doubts whether there are more in San- 
skrit. M. D'Orsey even assures us that an ordinary agri- 
cultural labourer has not 300 words in his vocabulary. 

Professor Max Miiller ^ observes, that ' this fact 
' simplifies immensely the problem of the origin of 
' language. It has taken away all excuse for those 
' rapturous descriptions of language which invariably 
' preceded the argument that language must have a 
' divine origin. We shall hear no more of that wonder- 

^ Hovelacque, La Linguistique, * Sci. of L., vol. i. p. 62. 

pp. 119, 137. 5 Saturday Review, November 

^ Ges. der Menschheit, vol. i. 2, 1861. Lectures on Language, 

p. 168 p. 268. 

^ Lichtenstein, Travels in South ^ Loc. cit. p. 359. 

Africa, vol. ii. p. 371, 



OBIGIN OF BOOT-WOBDS 423 

' ful instrument which can express all we see, and hear, 
' and taste, and touch, and smell ; which is the breath- 
' ing image of the whole world ; which gives form to 
' the airy feelings of our souls, and body to the loftiest 
' dreams of our imagination ; which can arrange in 
' accurate perspective the past, the present, and the 
^ future, and throw over everything the varying hues 
' of certainty, of doubt, of contingency.' 

This, indeed, is no new view, but was that generally 
adopted by the philologists of the last century, and is 
fully borne out by more recent researches. 

In considering the origin of these root- words, we 
must remember that most of them are very ancient, and 
much worn by use. This greatly enhances the difficulty 
of the problem. 

Nevertheless, there are several large classes of words 
with reference to the origin of which there can be no 
doubt. Many names of animals, such as cuckoo, crow, 
peewit, &c., are evidently derived from the sounds made 
by those birds. Everyone admits that such words as 
bang, crack, creak, crush, crash, splash, dash, purr, 
whizz, hum, &c., have arisen from the attempt to repre- 
sent sounds characteristic of the object they are intended 
to designate.^ 

Take, again, the inarticulate human sounds — sob, 
sigh, moan, groan, laugh, cough, weep, whoop, shriek, 
yawn. 

Or of animals ; as cackle, chuckle, gobble, quack, 
twitter, chirp, coo, hoot, caw, croak, chatter, neigh, 
whinny, mew, purr, bark, yelp, roar, bellow. 

^ Wedgwood, Introduction to also Wedgwood's Origin of Lan- 
Dic. of Englisli Etymology. Farrar, guage, which I regret I had not read 
Origin of Language, p. 89. See when this chapter was written. 



424 ONOMATOPCEIA 

The collision of hard bodies : clap, rap, tap, knap, 
snap, trap, flap, slap, crack, smack, whack, thwack, pat, 
bat, batter, beat, butt ; and again : clash, flash, plash, 
splash, smash, dash, crash, bang, clang, -twang, ring, 
ding, din, bump, thump, plump, boom, hum, drum, hiss, 
rustle, bustle, whistle, whisper, murmur, babble, &:c. 

So also sounds denoting certain motions and actions : 
whirr, whizz, pufl*, fizz, fly, flit, flow, flutter, patter, 
clatter, crackle, rattle, bubble, guggle, dabble, grabble, 
draggle, dripple, rush, shoot, shot, shut, &c. 

Many words for cutting, and the objects cut, or 
used for cutting, &c., are obviously of similar origin. 
Thus we have the sound sh — r with each of the vowels ; 
share, a part cut ofl* ; shear, an instrument for cutting ; 
shire, a division of a country ; shore, the division be- 
tween land and sea, or as we use it in Kent, between 
two fields ; a shower a number of separate particles ; 
again : scissors, scythe, saw, scrape, shard, scale, shale, 
shell, shield, skull, schist, shatter, scatter, scar, scoop, 
score, scrape, scratch, scum, scour, scurf, surf, scuttle, 
sect, shape, sharp, shave, sheaf, shed, shoal, shread, split, 
splinter, splutter, &c. 

Another important class of words is evidently 
founded on the sounds by which we naturally express 
our feelings. Thus from Oh ! Ah ! the instinctive cry 
of pain, we get woe, vae (Latin), wail, ache ; a^os, Gr. 

From the deep guttural sound ugh, we have ugly, 
huge, and hug. 

From pr, or prut, indicating contempt, or self-con- 
ceit, comes proud, pride, &c. 

From fie, we have fiend, foe, feud, foul, Latin putris, 
Fr. puer, filth, fulsome, fear. 



WEAR AND TEAR OF WORDS 425 

From that of smacking the lips, we get y\vKv<s, 
dulcis. lick, like, which though originally no doubt 
applied to things eaten, is now used generally. Turner 
mentions that on presenting some hatchets to the natives 
of Tauna, they ' smacked their lips, and made their 
* usual click, click with the mouth shut, in admiration of 
' the fine new hatchets.' ^ 

Under these circumstances I cannot but think that 
we may look upon the words above mentioned as the 
still recognisable descendants of roots which were 
onomatopoeic in their origin ; and I am glad to see that 
Professor Max Miiller, in his second series of lectures 
on language,^ wishes to be understood as offering no 
opposition to this theory, although for the present 
' satisfied with considering roots as phonetic types.' 

It may be said, and said truly, that other classes of 
ideas are not so easily or naturally expressible by corre- 
sponding sounds ; and that abstract terms seldom have 
any such obvious derivation. We must remember, 
however, firstly, that abstract terms are wanting in the 
lowest languages ; and, secondly, that most words are 
greatly worn by use, and altered by the difference of 
pronunciation. Even among the most advanced races 
a few centuries suffice to produce a great change ; how, 
then, can we expect that any roots (excepting those 
which are preserved from material alteration by the 
constant suggestion of an obvious fitness) should have 
retained their original sound throughout the immense 
period which has elapsed since the origin of language ? 
Moreover, every one who has paid any attention to 

^ Nineteen Years in Polynesia, p. 55. 
^ Loc. cit. p. 92. 



426 NICKNAMES AND SLANG TEEMS 

children, or schoolboys, must have observed how nick- 
names, often derived from slight and even fanciful 
characteristics, are seized on and soon adopted by- 
general consent. Hence even if root- words had re- 
mained with little alteration, we should still be often 
puzzled to account for their origin. 

Without, then, supposing with Farrar that all our 
root- words have originated from onomatopoeia, I believe 
that they arose in the same way as the nicknames and 
new slang terms of our own day. These we know are 
often selected from some similarity of sound, or connec- 
tion of ideas often so quaint, fanciful, or far-fetched, 
that we are unable to recall the true origin even of 
words which have arisen in our own time. How, then, 
can we wonder that the derivations of root-words which 
are thousands of years old should be in so many cases 
lost, or at least undeterminable with certainty ? 

Again, the words most frequently required, and 
especially those used by children, are generally repre- 
sented by the simplest and easiest sounds, merely 
because they are the simplest. Thus in Europe we 
have papa and daddy, mamma, and baby ; poupee for a 
doll ; amme for a nurse, &c. Some authorities, indeed, 
have derived Pater and Papa from a root Pa to cherish, 
and Mater, Mother, from Ma to make ; this derivation 
is accepted by writers representing the most opposite 
theories, as for instance by Pictet, Renan, Muller, 
Whitney, and even apparently by Farrar. 

According to Professor Max Muller, the fact that 
* the name father was coined at that early period, shows 
' that the father acknowledged the offspring of his wife 
' as his own, for thus only had he a right to claim the 



ORIGIN OF THE TEEMS FATHER AND MOTHER 427 



' title of father. Father is derived from a root Pa, 
* which means, not to beget but to protect, to support, 
'to nourish. The father, as genitor, was called in 
' Sanskrit ganitdr, but as protector and supporter of his 
' offspring he was called pitar : hence, in the Yeda, 
' these two names are used together, in order to express 
' the full idea of Father. Thus the poet says : — 

' Dyatis me peta genita 
Jovis mei pater genitor 
Zsijs sjjLov irarrjp ysvsTTJp. 

^ In a similar manner m^tar, mother, is joined with 
' ganitu, genitrix, which shows that the word matar 
' must soon have lost its etymological meaning, and 
' have become an expression of respect and endearment. 
' For among the early Arians, matar had the sense of 
' maker, from Ma, to fashion.' ^ 

Now let us see what are the names for father and 
mother among some other races, omitting all languages 
derived from Sanskrit.^ 







AFRICA. 




Language 


Father 


Mother 


Filham 




Papai 


Inya ^ 


Bola (N.W. 


Africa) 


Papa 


Ni 


Sarar 




Paba 


Ne 


Pepel 




Papa 


Nana 


Biafada 




Baba 


Na 


Baga 




Bapa 


Mana 


Timne 




Pa 


Kara 



^ Comparative Mythology. Ox- 
ford Essays, 1856, p. 14. 

^ When this was written, and 
the following table was compiled, I 
had not seen Professor Biischman's 
paper on the same subject, contained 



in the Trans, of the Berlin Academy 
for 1852, and translated by Mr. 
Clarke in the Proc. of the Philolo- 
gical Soc, vol. vi. 

2 Koelle's Polyglotta African a. 



428 



WOBBS FOB FATEBB AND MOTHFB 



Language 


Father 


Mother 


Mandenga 


Fa 


Na 


Kabunga 


5) 


55 


Toronka 


•)•> 


55 


Dsalunka 


?? 


55 


Kankanka 


JJ 


55 


Bambara 


55 


Ba 


Kono 


55 


Nde 


Vei 


55 


Ba 


Soso 


Fafe 


Nga 


Kisekise 


55 


55 


Tene 


Fafa 


55 


Dewoi (GniTiea) 


Ba 


Ma 


Basa 


55 


Ne 


Gbe 


Ba 


De 


Dahome 


Da 


Noe 


Mahi 


,, also Dadye 


55 


Ota 


Baba 


lya 


Egba 


55 




Idsesa 


J) 




Yoruba 


5J 




Yagba 


JJ 




Eki 


55 




Dsumu 


55 




Oworo 


55 




Dsebu 


5) 




Ife 


55 


Yeye 


Ondo 


55 


Ye 


Mose (High Sudan) 


Ba 


Ma 


Gurma 


55 


Na 


Sobo (Mger District) 


Wawa 


Nene 


Udso 


Dada 


Ayo 


Nupe 


Nda 


Nna 


Kupa 


Dada 


Mo 


Esitako 


Da 


Na 


Musu 


Nda 


Meya 


Basa 


Ba 


Nno 


Opanda 


Ada 


Onyi 


Igu 


?5 


Onya 



IN VABI0V8 LANGUAGES 



429 



Langtiage 


Father 


Mother 


Egbira 


Ada 


Onya 


Buduma (Central Africa) 


Bawa 


Ya 


Bornu 


Aba 


55 


Munio 


Bawa 


55 


Nguru 


55 


lya 


Kanem 


Mba 


55 


Karehare 


Baba 


Nana 


Ngodsin 


J5 


55 


Doai 


5J 


Aye 


Basa 


Ada 


Am 


Kamuku 


Baba 


Bina 


Songo (S.W. Africa) 


Papa 


Mama 


Kiriman (S.E. Africa) 


Baba 


Mma 


Bidsogo 


5) 


Ondsunei 


Wun 


Baba 


Omsion 


Gadsaga 


55 


Ma 


Gura 


Da 


Nye 


Banyun 


Aba 


Aai 


Nalu 


Baba 


Nya 


Bulanda 


55 


Ni 


Limba 


Papa 


Na 


Landoma 


55 


Mama 


Barba 


Baba 


Inya 


Timbuktu 


55 


Nya 


Bagrmi 


Babi 


Kunyun 


Kadzina 


Baba 


Ua 


Timbo 


55 


Nene 


Salum 


55 


Yuma 


Goburu 


55 


Inna 


Kano 


55 


Ina 


Yala 


Ada 


Ene 


Dsarawa 


Tada 


Nga 


Koro 


Oda 


Ma 


Yasgua 


Ada 


Ama 


Ka,mbali 


Dada 


Omo 


Soa (Arabic group) 


Aba 


Aye 


Wadai 


Abba 


Omma 



430 



WOBBS FOB FATHEB AND MOTHEB 



Language 


Father 


Mother 


Malenba 


Tata 


Mamma 


Embomma 


Taata 


Mama 


Kaffir 


Ubaba 


Umame ' 



N ON- ARYAN NATIONS OF EUROPE AND ASIA.^ 



Turkish 


Baba 


Ana 


Georgian 


Mama 


Deda 


Mantsbu 


Ama 


Eme 


Javanese 


Bapa 


Ibu 


Malay 


5) 


Ma^ 


Syami (Thibet) 


Dhada 


55 


Thibetan 


Pha 


Ama 


Serpa (Nepal) 


Aba 


5? 


Murmi 


Apa 


Amma 


Pakhya 


Babai 


Ama 


Lepcha (Sikkim) 


Abo 


Amo 


Bhutani 


Appa 


Ai 


Dhimal (N.E. Bengal) 


Aba 


Ama 


Kocch 


Bap 


Ma 


Garo 


Aba 


Ama 


Burman (Burmah) 


Ahpa 


Ami 


Mru 


Pa 


Au 


Sak 


Aba 


Anu 


Talain (Siam) 


Ma 


Ya 


Ho (Central India) 


Appu 


Enga 


Santhali „ 


Baba 


Ayo 


Uraon ,, 


•Babe 


Ayyo 


Gayeti „ 


Baba 


Dai 


Khond 


Abba 


Ayya 


Tuluva (Southern India) 


Am me 


Appe 


Badaga „ 


Appa 


Awe 


Irula „ 


Amma 


Awe 



^ Tuckey's Narrative. 
^ Morgan, Systems of Consan- 
guinity. 

^ Hunter, Die. of Non-Aryan 



Languages of India, &c. 

* Crawford 's Malay Dictionary 
and Grammar. 



IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES 



431 



Language 


Father 


Mother 


Cinghalese 


Appa 


Amma 


Chinese 


Fu 


Mu 


Karen 


Pa 
ISLANDERS. 


Moi 


Kingsmill 


Tama 


Mama 


New Zealand 


Pa-Matuatana 


Matua wahina 


Tonga Islands 


Tamny 


Fae 


Erroob (N. Australia) 


Bab 


Ama 


Lewis' Murray Island 


Baab 
AUSTRALIA. 


Hammah 


Jajowrong (N.W. Australia) Marmook 


Barbook 


Knenkorenwurro „ 


Marmak 


Barpanorook 


Burapper „ 


Marmook 


Barbook 


Taungurong „ 


Warredoo 


Barbanook 


Boraipar (S. Australia) 


Murmme 


Parppe 


Murrumbidgee 


Kunny 


Mamma 


Western Australia 


Mammun 


Ngangan 


Port Lincoln 


Pappi 
ESQUIMAUX. 


Maitya 


Esquimaux (Hudson's Bay) Atata 


Amama 


Tsliuktcbi (Asia) 


Atta 


? 



The American languages seem at first sight opposed 
to the view here suggested ; on close examination, how- 
ever, this is not the case, since the pronunciation of the 
labials is very difficult to many American races. Thus 
La Hontan (who is confirmed by Gallatin^) informs us 
that the Hurons do not use the labials, and that he 
spent four days in attempting, without success, to teach 
a Huron to pronounce b, p, and m. The Iroquois are 



^ Morgan, Sys. of Consanguinity. 

2 Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc, vol. i. p. 236. 



432 



WORDS FOB FATHER AND MOTHER 



stated not to use labials. Garcilasso de la Vega tells 
us that the Peruvian language wanted the letters b, d, 
f, g, s, and X ; b, d, f, g, r, and s in Aztec ; ^ and the 
Indians of Port au Frangais, according to M. Lamanon, 
made no use o£ the consonants b, d, f, j, p, v, or x.^ 
Still, even in America we find some cases in which the 
sounds for father resemble those so general elsewhere ; 
thus : — 



Language 




Father 


Mother 


Costanos (N.W 


. America) 


Ah pah 


Ah nah 


T^hakU 


J5 


Apa 


55 


Tlatskanai 


55 


Mama 


Naa 


Nasqually 


^f 


Baa 


Sogo 


Nootlia 


55 


Api 


Una 


Athapascans (Canada) 


Appa 


Unnungcool 


Omahas (Missouri) 


Dadai 


Eehong 


Minnetarees 




Tantai 


Eeka 


Choctas (Mississippi) 


Aunkke 


Iskeh 


Caribs 




Baba 


Bibi 


Quichua 




Yaya 


Mama 


Uainamben (A: 


mazons) 


Pai 


Ami 


Cobeu 


55 


Ipaki 


Ipako 


Tucano 


55 


Pagui 


Maou 


Tariana 


. J) 


Paica 


Naca 


Baniwa 




Padjo 


Nadjo 


Barre 




Mbaba 


Memi 


Muysea 




Paba 


Guuira 



Finding, then, that the easiest sounds which a child 
can produce denote father and mother almost all over 
the world ; remembering that the root ba or pa indi- 
cates baby as well as father ; that in various parts of 
the world the roots ' pa ' and ' ma ' denote other near 
relationships ; and observing that in some cases the 

1 Wuttke's Qes. der Mensch., vol. i. p. 279. ^ Gallatin, loc. cit. p. 63. 



THE CHOICE OF BOOT-WORDS 433 

usual sounds are reversed ; as, for instance, in Georgian, 
where mamma stands for father, and dada for mother ; 
or in Tuhiva, where amme is father, and appe is mother ; 
in Chilian, where ' papa ' means mother ; in TIatskanai, 
where ' mama ' stands for father ; in Madurese again, 
where ' mama ' means father, ' ambu ' or ' babu ' mother ; 
or some of the Australian tribes, in which combinations of 
the sound mar stand for father, and bar for mother ; we 
must surely admit that the Sanskrit verb Pa. to protect, 
comes from pa, father, and not vice versa. 

There are few more interesting studies than the 
steps by which our present language has been derived 
from these original roots. This subject has been ad- 
mirably dealt with by my friend Professor Max MllUer 
in his ' Lectures on Language,' and, tempting as it 
would be to do so, I do not propose to follow him into 
that part of the science. As regards the formation of 
the original roots, however, he declines to express any 
opinion. Rejecting what he calls the pooh-pooh and 
bow-wow theories^ (though they are in reality but 
one), he observes that ' the theory which is suggested 
' to us by an analysis of language carried out according 
' to the principles of comparative philology, is the very 
' opposite. We arrive in the end at roots, and every 
^ one of these expresses a general, not an individual 
' idea.' But the whole question is, How were these roots 
chosen ? How did particular things come to be denoted 
by particular sounds ? 

Here, however, Professor Max Muller stops. No- 
thing, he admits,^ • would be more interesting than to 
' know from historical documents the exact process by 

^ Science of Language, p. 373. "^ Loc. cit. p, 340. 

F F 



434 TEE CEOIGE OF R00T-W0EE8 

' which the first man began to lisp his first words, and 
' thus to be rid for ever of all the theories on the origin 
' of speech. But this knowledge is denied us ; and, if 
' it had been otherwise, we should probably be quite 

* unable to understand those primitive events in the 
' history of the human mind.' 

Yet in his last chapter he says/ 'And now I am 
' afraid I have but a few minutes left to exj^lain the 
' last question of all in our science, namely, How can 

* sound express thought ? How did roots become the 
^ signs of general ideas ? How was the abstract idea of 
^ measuring expressed by ma, the idea of thinking 
' by man ? How did ga come to mean going, sthgi 
' standing, f^sad sitting, d^ giving, mar dying, char 
' walking, l^ar doing ? I shall try to answer as briefly 
' as possible. The 400 or 500 roots which remain as 
^ the constituent elements in different families of lan- 
' guage are not interjections, nor are they imitations. 
' They are phonetic types produced by a power inherent 
' in human nature. They exist, as Plato would say, by 
' nature ; though with Plato we should add that, when 
' we say by nature, we mean by the hand of God. 
' There is a law which runs through nearly the whole 
' of nature ; that everything which is struck rings. . . . 
^ Man, in his primitive and perfect state, was not only 
* endowed, like the brute, with the power of expressing 
' his sensations by interjections, and his perceptions by 
' onomatopoeia. He possessed likewise the faculty of 
' giving more articulate expression to the natural con- 
' ceptions of his mind. That faculty was not of his 
' making. It was an instinct, an instinct of the mind 

1 Loc. cit. p. 386. 



POVERTY OF SAVAGE LANGUAGES 435 

^ as irresistible as any other instinct. So far as lan- 
' guage is the production of that instinct, it belongs to 
' the realm of nature.' 

This answer, though expressed with Professor Max 
Muller's usual eloquence, does not convey to my mind 
any definite conception. On the other hand, it appears 
to me that at any rate, as regards some roots, we 
have, as already pointed out, a satisfactory explanation. 
Professor Max Mliller,^ indeed, admits that * there are 
' some names, such as cuckoo, which are clearly formed 
' by an imitation of sound. But,' he adds, ' words of 
' this kind are, like artificial flowers, without a root. 
' They are sterile, and are unfit to express anything 
' beyond the one object which they imitate. If you 
' remember the variety of derivatives that could be 
' formed from the root spac, to see, you will at once 
' perceive the difference between the fabrication of such 
' a word as cuckoo, and the true natural growth of 
' words.' It has, however, been already shown that 
such roots, far from being sterile, are, on the contrary, 
very fruitful, and we must remember that savage lan- 
guages are extremely poor in abstract terms. 

Indeed, the vocabularies of the various races are 
most interesting from the indications which they afford 
with reference to the condition of those by whom they 
are used. Thus we get a melancholy idea of the moral 
state and family life of tribes which are deficient in 
terms of endearment. Colonel Dalton ^ tells us that the 
Hos of Central India have no ' endearing epithets.' 
The Algonquin language, one of the richest in North 
America, contained no verb ' to love,' and when Elliot 

^ Science of Language, p. 363, - Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. vi. p. 27. 

r F 2 



436 DEFICIENCY IN TEBMS OF AFFECTION 

translated the Bible into it in 1661, he was obliged to 
coin a word for the purpose. The Tinne Indians on 
the other side of the Rocky Mountams had no equi- 
valent for ' dear' or 'beloved.' ' I endeavoured,' says 
General Lefroy, ' to put this intelligibly to Nanette, by 
' supposing such an expression as ma chere femme ; ma 
' chere fille. When at length she understood it, her 
' reply was (with great emphasis), " I' disent jamais qa ; 
' "i' disent ma femme, ma fille." ' The Kalmucks and 
some of the South Sea Islanders are said to have had 
no word for ' thanks.' Lichtenstein,^ speaking of the 
Bushmen, mentions it as a remarkable instance of the 
total absence of civilisation among them that ' they 
' have no names, and seem not to feel the want of such 
' a means of distinguishing one individual from another.' 
Phny ^ makes a similar statement concerning a race in 
Northern Africa. Freycinet ^ also asserts that some of 
the Australian tribes did not name their women. I 
confess that I am inclined to doubt these statements, 
and to refer the supposed absence of names to the 
curious superstitions already referred to {a?ite, p. 24cS), 
and which makes savages so reluctant to communicate 
their true names to strangers. The Brazilian tribes, 
according to Spix and Martins, had separate names for 
the different parts of the body, and for all the different 
animals and plants with w^hich they were acquainted, 
but were entirely deficient in such terms as ' colour,' 
' tone,' ' sex,' ' genus,' ' spirit,' &c. 

Bailey ^ mentions that the language of the Yeddahs 

' Vol. i. p. 119; vol. ii. p. 49. "" Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. ii. 

'^ Nat. Hist. 1. V. s. viii. p. 298 ; see also p. 300. 

^ Vol. ii. p. 749. 



ABSENCE OF ABSTRACT TERMS 437 

(Ceylon) 'is very limited. It only contains such 
' phrases as are required to describe the most striking 
' objects of nature, and those which enter into the daily 
'life of the people themselves. So rude and primitive 
' is their dialect that the most ordinary objects and 
' actions of life are described by quaint periphrases.' 

' In Kocch, Bodo, and Dhimal there is not a single 
' vernacular word to express matter, spirit, space, 
' instinct, reason, consciousness, quantity, degree, or 
' the like.' ^ Among the Bongo of Central Africa words 
for ' abstract ideas, such as spirit, soul, hope, fear, 
' appear to be absolutely wanting, but experience 
' shows that in this respect other negro tongues are 
' not more richly provided.' ^ 

The Australian dialects are almost destitute of abstract 
terms and generic words. 

The Tasmanians, again, had no general term for a 
tree, though they had names for each particular kind ; 
nor could they express ' qualities such as hard, soft, 
'warm, cold, long, short, round,' &c. 

According to missionaries the Fuegians had ' no 
' abstract terms.' In the North American languages a 
term ' sufficiently general to denote an oak-tree is ex- 
' ceptional.' Thus, the Choctaw language has names 
for the black oak, white oak, and red oak, but none for 
an oak, still less for a tree. 

Speaking of the Coroados (Brazil), Martins observes 
that ' it would be in vain to seek among them words for 
' the abstract ideas of plant, animal, and the still more 

1 Essay on the Kocch, Bodo, and nals of Rural Bengal, p. 113. 
Dhimal Tribes, by B. H. Hodgson, ^ Schweiniurth's Heart of Africa, 

Esq., p. ii. See also Hunter's An- vol. i. p. 311. 



438 THE 8ENSE OF COLOUR 

' abstract notions colour, tone, sex, species, &c. ; such a 
' generalisation of ideas is found among them only in 
' the frequently used infinitive of the verbs to walk, to 
' eat, to drink, to dance, to see, to hear, &c. They 
' have no conception of the general powers and laws of 
' nature, and therefore cannot express them in words.' ^ 
It is reaiarkable that barbarous races are often deficient 
in terms denoting colours. 

Nor is this the case with the lower races only. The 
colour of grass and foliage is scarcely alluded to in the 
Yedas or the Zendavesta. The most ancient Indian 
sacred book, the Rigveda, though, as Greiger has pointed 
out,^ containing 10,000 lines, and consisting principally 
of hymns to heaven, does not contain the word ' blue ' 
or ' green ; ' nor are these colours mentioned in the old 
Persian sacred writings — the Zendavesta. The word 
' blue ' is also absent from the earlier books of the Old 
Testament, the Koran, and the writings of Homer, 
although in the former the heaven is mentioned no less 
than 450 times. The Greeks and Romans in ancient 
times appear indeed to have had no word for ' blue.' 
Kvavo^, which subsequently acquired the meaning, in 
Homer always stands for ' black ; ' and cseruleus appears 
originally to have had the same meaning, and to have 
gradually passed through ' grey ' to ' blue.' Indeed our 
own word ' blue ' is similarly connected with ' bleach ' 
and ' black.' So also the ancient words for green and 
yellow seem to have been used almost as equivalents. 
It is, moreover, remarkable that both Aristotle and 
Xenophanes speak of the rainbow as composed of three 

^ Spix and Martius, Travels in ^ Zur Entw. der Menschlieit, 

Brazil, vol. ii. p. 253. p, 46. 



DEFICIENCY IN NUMERALS 439 

colours — purple, yellow, and green. The Todas appear 
to have but one word for ' black,' ' blue,' and 
' green.' ^ 

Some eminent authorities consider that this curious 
fact arises from a want of the power of perceiving cer- 
tain colours, a view which seems to me quite inadmis- 
sible. 

There is, perhaps, no more interesting part of the 
study of language than that which concerns the system 
of numeration, nor any more striking proof of the low 
mental condition of many savage races than the un- 
doubted fact that they are unable to count their own 
fingers, even of one hand. 

According to Lichtenstein, the Bushmen could not 
count beyond two. Spix and Martins make the same 
statement about the Brazilian Wood- Indians. The 
Botocudos had a word for ' one,' but everything beyond 
was ' many.' The natives of Erroob and some of the 
Cape Yorkers of Australia count as follows :— 



One 


Netat. 


Two 


Naes. 


Three 


Naes-netat. 


Four 


Naes-naes. 


Five 


Naes-naes-netat. 


Six 


Naes-naes-naes. 



Other Cape Yorkers have words for one, two, and 
three, while for four they say Ungatua, i.e. the whole 
(hand being understood).^ 

In Western Australia gudgal is two, gudgalin- 

1 Marshall, Phrenologist among ~ Gill, Life in the Southern Isles, 

the Todas, p. 250. p. 225. 



440 SAVAGE DIFFICULTIES IN AEITHMETIG 

guclgalin four. Five is mashjinbangga, i.e. half the two 
hands. Moore also gives as a word (?) for fifteen, mehr- 
jin-belli-belli-gudgir-jina-bangga,- i.e. the hand on either 
side and half the feet. Speaking of the Lower Murray- 
nations, Mr. Beveridge says, ' Their numerals are con- 
' fined to two alone, viz. " ryup," ''politi," the first 
' signifying " one " and the second " two." To express 
' five, they say " ryup murnangin," or one hand, and 
'to express ten, " politi murnangin," or two hands.' ^ 
No Australians, indeed, can be said to go beyond four, 
their term for five simply implying a large number. 

The Dammaras, according to Galton, used no term 
beyond three. He gives so admirable and at the same 
time so amusing an account of Dammara difficulties in 
language and arithmetic that I cannot resist quoting it 
in full. ' We had,' he says,^ ' to trust to our Dammara 
' guides, whose ideas of time and distance were most 
' provokingly indistinct ; besides this they have no 
' comparative in their language, so that you cannot 
' say to them, " Which is the longer of the two, the 
' " next stage or the last one ? " but you must say, 
' •' The last is little ; the next is it great ? " The 
' reply is not. It is a " little longer," or " very much 
' " longer," but simply, "It is so," or " It is not so." 
' When inquiries are made about how many days' jour- 
' ney off a place may be, their ignorance of all numerical 
' ideas is very annoying. In practice, whatever they 
' may possess in their language, they certainly use no 
' numeral greater than three. When they wish to ex- 

^ Moore, Ten Years in W. Aus- p. 433. 
tralia. ?- Galton's Tropical South Africa, 

2 Trans, of the R. S. of Victoria, p. 213. 
vol. yi. p. 151. Lang, Queensland, 



SAVAGE DIFFICULTIES IN ARITHMETIC 441 

^ press four, they take to their fingers, which are to them 
^ as formidable instruments of calculation as a sliding 
' rule is to an English schoolboy. They puzzle very 
' much after five, because no spare hand remains to 
' grasp and secure the fingers that are required for units. 
' Yet they seldom lose oxen ; the way in which they 
' discover the loss of one is not by the number of the 
^ herd being diminished, but by the absence of a face 
' they know. When bartering is going on, each sheep 
' must be paid for separately. Thus, suppose two sticks 
' of tobacco to be the rate of exchange for one sheep, it 
' would sorely puzzle a Dammara to take two sheep and 
' give him four sticks. I have done so, and seen a man 
^ put two of the sticks apart, and take a sight over them 
' at one of the sheep he was about to sell. Having 
' satisfied himself that that one was honestly paid for, 
^ and finding to his surprise that exactly two sticks re- 
* mained in hand to settle the account for the other sheep, 
' he would be aflSicted with doubts ; the transaction 
' seemed to come out too " pat " to be correct, and he 
' would refer back to the first couple of sticks ; and 
' then his mind got hazy and confused, and wandered 
' from one sheep to the other, and he broke off the 
' transaction until two sticks were put into his hand, 
^ and one sheep driven away, and then the other two 
' sticks given him, and the second sheep driven away. 
' When a Dammara's mind is bent upon number, it is 
' too much occupied to dwell upon quantity ; thus a 
' heifer is bought from a man for ten sticks of tobacco, 
' his large hands being both spread out upon the ground, 
' and a stick placed upon each finger. He gathers up 
' the tobacco, the size of the mass pleases him, and the 



442 ORIGIN OF THE DECIMAL SYSTEM. 

* bargain is struck. You then want to buy a second 
' heifer ; the same process is gone through, but half 
' sticks instead of whole sticks are put upon his fingers ; 
^ the man is equally satisfied at the time, but occasionally 
' finds it out, and complains the next day. 

' Once while I watched a Dammara floundering 
' hopelessly in a calculation on one side of me, I ob- 
' served Dinah, my spaniel, equally embarrassed on the 
' other. She was overlooking half a dozen of her new- 
' born puppies, which had been removed two or three 
' times from her, and her anxiety was excessive, as she 
' tried to find out if they were all present, or if any 
' were still missing. She kept puzzling and running 
' her eyes over them, backwards and forwards, but 
' could not satisfy herself. She evidently had a vague 
' notion of counting, but the figure was too large for 
' her brain. Taking the two as they stood, dog and 
' Dammara, the comparison reflected no great honour 
' on the man.' 

All over the world the fingers are used as counters ; 
and although the numerals of most races are so worn 
down by use that we can no longer detect their original 
meaning, there are many savage tribes in which the 
words used are merely the verbal expressions of the 
signs used in counting with the fingers. 

Of this I have just given several instances. In 
Labrador ' Tallek,' a hand, means also ' five,' and the 
term for twenty means hands and feet together. 

So also the Esquimaux of Greenland ^ for twenty 
say ' a man ; that is, as many fingers and toes as a man 
^ has ; and then count as many fingers more as are 

^ Crantz, Hist, of Greenland, vol. i. p. 225. 



UST] OF TEE FINGEE8 IN ABITEMJSTIG 443 

' above the number ; consequently, instead of 100, they 
' say ^ve men. But the generality are not such learned 
' arithmeticians, and therefore when the number is above 
^ twenty, they say "it is innumerable." ' The number 8 
is ' three on the other hand,' and 24 ' four on the second 
'man.' So also among the Kolusches the word for 
twenty is the hka, literally ' oiie man ; ' for forty, tach 
hka, ' two men.' ^ 

Speaking of the Ahts, Mr. Sproat ^ says, ' It may be 
' noticed that their word for one occurs again in that 
' for six and nine, and the word for two is that for 
' seven and eight. The Aht Indians count upon their 
' fingers. They always count, except where they have 
' learnt diiFerently from their contact with civilisation, 
' by raising the hands with the palms upwards, and 
' extending all the fingers, and bending down each finger 
' as it is used for enumeration. They begin with the 
* little finger. This little finger, then, is one. Now 
' six is five (that is, one whole hand) and one more. 
' We can easily see, then, why their word for six 
' comprehends the word for one. Again, seven is 
' five (one whole hand) and two more — thus 
' their word for seven comprehends the word for 
' two. Again, when they have bent down the eighth 
' finger, the most noticeable feature of the hand is that 
' two fingers, that is, a finger and a thumb, remain ex- 
' tended. Now, the Aht word for eight comprehends 
' atlah, the word for two. The reason for this I imagine 
'to be as follows: Eight is ten (or the whole hands) 
' wanting two. Again, when the ninth finger is down, 

^ Erman. Zeit. f. Ethnologie, ^ Scenes and Studies of Savage 

1871, p. 217. Life, p. 121. 



444 USE OF THE FINGEES IN ABITHMETIC 

' only one finger is left extended. Their word for nine 
' comprehends tsowwauk, the word for one. Nine is 
' ten (or two whole hands) wanting one.' ^ So again 
among the Pit River Indians 9 means literally ' pretty 
near 10.' ' 

The Zamuca and Muysca Indians ^ have a cumbrous, 
but interesting, system of numeration. For five they 
say, ' hand finished.' For six, ' one of the other hand ; ' 
that is to say, take a finger of the other hand. For ten 
they say, ' two hands finished,' or sometimes more simply 
' quicha,' that is ' foot.' Eleven is foot-one ; twelve, 
foot-two ; thirteen, foot-three, and so on : twenty is the 
feet finished ; or in other cases ' Man,' because a man 
has ten fingers and ten toes, thus making twenty. 

Among the Jararoes the word for forty is ' noeni 
' pume ; ' i.e. two men, from noeni, two, and canipune, 
men. 

Speaking of the Gaiana natives, Mr. Brett observes ^ 
that ' another point in which the different nations agree 
' is their method of numeration. The first four num- 
' hers are represented by simple words, as in the table 
' above given. Five is " my one hand," ahar-dakabo 
' in Arawak. Then coaies a repetition, ahar timen, 
' hiam. timen^ &c., up to nine. Biam-dakaho^ " my two 
' " hands," is ten. From ten to twenty they use the 
' toes {kuti or okuti), as abar-kuti-hana^ " eleven," biam- 
' kuti-bana, " twelve," &c. They call twenty abar-loko, 
' one loko or man. They then proceed by men or 
' scores ; thus, forty-five is laboriously expressed by 

^ Scenes and Studies of Savage ^ Humboldt's Personal Ee- 

Life, pp. 121, 122. searches, vol. ii. p. 117. 

'^ Powers, Cont. to Amer. Ethn., ^ Brett's Indian Tribes of Guiana, 

vol. iii. p. 273. p. 417. 



AS SHOWN IN THE NAMES OF NUMERALS 445 

* hiani'loko-ahar-dakabo tajeacjo, " two men and one 
' " hand upon it." For higher numbers they have now 
^ recourse to our words hundred and thousand.' So 
also among the Caribs, the word for 'ten,' Chonnoucabo 
raim, meant hterally ' the fingers of both hands ; ' and 
that for ' twenty ' was Chonnougouci raim, i.e. the 
fingers and toes.^ 

The Coroados ^ generally count only by the joints of 
the fingers, consequently only to three. Every greater 
number they express by the word ' miony.' 

According to Dobritzhofi'er ' the Guaranies, when 
' questioned respecting a thing exceeding four, imme- 
' diately reply ndipapahabi, ndipapahai, innumerable.' ^ 
So also the Abipones ^ can only express three numbers 
' in proper words : Initdra, one, Inoaka, two, Inoaka 
' yekaini, three. They make up for the other numbers 
' by various arts ; thus, geyenk nate, the fingers of an 
' emu, which, as it has three in front and one turned 
' back, are four, serves to express that number : 7ieen- 
' halek, a beautiful skin spotted with five difi'erent 
' colours, is used to signify the number five.' ' Handm, 
' begem, the fingers of one hand, means five ; landm 
' rihegem, the fingers of both hands, ten ; landm rihegem. 
' cat gracherhaka anamichirihegem, the fingers of both 
' hands and both feet, twenty.' 

Among the Malays and throughout Polynesia the 
word for five is ima, lima, or rima. In Bila, lima also 
means a hand ; this is also the case in the Bugis, Mand- 
har, and Ende languages : in the Makasar dialect it is 

^ Tertre's History of the Caribby ^ History of the Abipones, vol. ii. 

Islands. p. 171. 

2 Spix and Martins, Travels in '^ Loc. cit. p. 169. 

Brazil, vol. ii. p. 255. 



446 USE OF THE FINGERS IN ARITHMETIC 

liman, in Sasak it is ima, in Bima it is rima, in Sem- 
bawa it is limang/ In Ellice's Islands 10 is 'katua' 
= ' all,' i.e. all the fingers.^ 

In the Mpongwe language ' tyani ' or ' tani ' is five, 
' ntyame ' is ' hand.' ^ The Koossa Kaffirs make little 
use of numerals. Lichtenstein could never discover 
that they had any word for eight, few could reckon 
beyond ten, and many did not know the names of any 
numerals. Yet if a single animal was missing out of a 
herd of several hundred, they observed it immediately.* 
This, however, as Mr. Galton explains, is merely 
because they miss a face they know. Among the Zulu, 
* tatitisupa,' six, means literally ' take the thumb ; ' i.e. 
having used the fingers of one hand, take the thumb 
of the next. ' The numbers,' says Lichtenstein, ' are 
commonly expressed among the Beetjuans by fingers 
held up, so that the word is rarely spoken ; many are 
even unacquainted with these numerals, and never 
employ anything but the sign. It therefore occa- 
sioned me no small trouble to learn the numerals, 
and I could by no means arrive at any denomination 
for the numbers five and nine. Beyond ten even 
the most learned could not reckon, nor could I make 
out by what signs they ever designated these higher 
numbers.' ^ 

The Bushmen cannot usually count beyond two, 
but one tribe uses the word ' guemtsom,' i.e. a hand, for 

^ Kaffles's History of Java, Ap- guage. 1847. 
pendix F. ^ Lichtenstein, vol. i. p. 280. See 

^ Gill, Myths of the South Pacific, also App. 
p. 326. ■' Loc. cit. vol. ii. App. 

^ Grammar of the Mpongwe Lan- 



PBOGBESS IN AEITEMETIG 447 

Even in our own langLiage the word ' five ' has a 
similar origin, since it is derived from the Greek TreVre, 
which again is evidently connected with the Persian 
pendji ; now in Persian ' pentcha ' means a hand, as 
Humboldt has already pointed out.^ 

Hence, no doubt, the prevalence of the decimal sys- 
tem in arithmetic ; it has no particular advantage ; in- 
deed, either eight or twelve would, in some respects, 
have been more convenient ; eight, because you can 
divide it by two, and then divide the result again by 
two ; and twelve, because it is divisible by six, four, 
three, and two. Ten, however, has naturally been 
selected, because we have ten fingers. 

These examples, then, appear to me very instructive ; 
we seem, as it were, to trace up the formation of the 
numerals ; we perceive the true cause of the decimal 
system of notation ; and we obtain interesting, if melan- 
choly, evidence of the extent to which the faculty of 
thought lies dormant among the lower races of man. 

^ Personal Researches, London 1814, vol. ii. p. 116, 



448 



CHAPTER XI. 

LAWS. 

THE customs and laws of the lower races, so far as 
religious and family relations are concerned, have 
already been discussed. There are, however, some other 
points of view with reference to which it seems desirable 
to make some remarks. The progress and development 
of law is indeed one of the most interesting as well as 
important sections of human history. It is far less es- 
sential, as Goguet^ truly observes, ' de savoir le nombre 
' des dynasties et les noras des souverains qui les com- 
' posoient ; mais il est essentiel de connoitre les loix, les 
' arts, les sciences et les usages d'une nation que toute 
' I'antiquite a regardee comme un modele de sagesse et de 
' vertu. Yoila les objets que je me suis proj)oses, et 
'quejevais traiter avec le plus d'exactitude qu'il me 
' sera possible/ It is, however, impossible thoroughly 
to understand the laws of the most advanced nations, 
unless we take into consideration those customs of 
ruder communities from which they took their origin, 
by which they are so profoundly influenced. 

It is, therefore, very much to be regretted that we 
are not more thorough^ acquainted with the laws and 
customs of savage races. 

At the time Goguet published his celebrated work, 

^ De rOrigine des Loix, des Arts et des Sciences, vol. i. p. 45. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT 449 

our knowledge was even more defective than is now the 
case. 

Still, I am surprised that with the evidence which 
was before him, and especially as he was one of the 
first to point out that much light is thrown by the 
condition of modern savages on that of our ancestors 
in times now long gone by,^ he should have regarded 
the monarchical form of government as the most ancient 
and most universally established.^ ' C'est, sans con- 
' tredit,' he says, ' le plus ancienncDient et le plus uni- 
' versellement etabli.' 

' La royaute,' he continues, ' est d'ailleurs une image 
^ de I'autorite que les peres avoient originairement sur 
' leurs enfants : ils etoient dans ces premiers tems les 
' chefs et les leo^islateurs de leur famille.' 

Whereas, it has been already shown in the earlier 
chapters of this work that the family is by no means so 
perfectly organised among the lowest races. 

Sir G. Grrey,^ speaking of the Austrahans, truly says 
that the ' laws of this people are unfitted for the govern- 
' ment of a single isolated family, some of them being 
' only adapted for the regulation of an assemblage of 
^ famihes ; they could, therefore, not have been a series 



^ M. Goguet remarks that some races. It was practised by the Eng- 
races, being ignorant of the art of lish Government down to the corn- 
writing, even now, ' pour constater mencement of the present century, 
Meurs ventes, leurs achats, leurs em- and I myself possess such a receipt 
' prunts, &c., emploient certains mor- given by the English Government to 
' ceaux de bois entailles diversement. the East India Company in the year 
' On les coupe en deux : le creancier 1770, and duly preserved in the 
en garde une moitie, et le d^biteur India House until within the last 
'retientl'autre. Quandladetteoula ten years. It represents 24,000/., 
< promesse est acquittee, chacun re- indicated by twenty-four equal 
' met le morceau qu'il avoit par devers notches in a rod of wood. 
' lui' (p. 26). This method of keep- "^ Log. cit. vol. i. p. 9. 
ing accounts is not confined to savage ^ Grey's Australia, vol. ii. p. 222. 

G G 



450 SAVAGE LAWS NOT FOUNDED ON THE FAMILY 

' of rules given by the first father to his children : again 
' they could not have been rules given by an assembly 
' of the first fathers to their children, for there are these 
' remarkable features about them, that some are of such 
' a nature as to compel those subject to them to remain 
' in a state of barbarism.' 

But, although the progress and development of law 
belong, for the most part, to a more advanced stage of 
human society than that which is the subject of this 
work, still, in one sense, as already mentioned, even the 
lowest races of savages have laws. 

Those who have not devoted much attention to the 
subject have generally regarded the savage as having 
one advantage, at least, over civilised man ; that, 
namely, of enjoying an amount of personal freedom 
greater than that of individuals belonging to more 
civilised communities. 

There cannot be a greater mistake. The savage is 
nowhere free. All over the world his daily life is regu- 
lated by a complicated and often most inconvenient set 
of customs (as forcible as laws), of quaint prohibitions 
and privileges ; the prohibitions as a general rule apply- 
ing to the women, and the privileges to the men. Nay, 
every action of their lives is regulated by numerous 
rules, none the less stringent because unwritten. 

' The Karens,' says M'Mahon, ' possess an oral law 
* almost as cumbrous as the written law of more civilised 
' peoples.' ^ 

The Hindoos fi:-om the cradle to the burning ground 
are hemmed round with caste rules, religious observ- 
ances, and Brahmanical exactions. 

1 The Karens of the Gold. Chersonese, p. 83. 



TYEANNY OF CUSTOM AMONG SAVAGES 451 

Speaking of the natives of Bengal, Sir J. Phear tells 
us that ' their down- sittings and uprisings, walkino-, 
' sleeping, eating, drinking, may be said to be subject to 
' the arbitrary control of spiritual agencies.' ^ 

' Fashion,^ says Schweinfurth, ' in the distant wilds 
' of Africa, tortures and harasses poor humanity as much 
^ as in the great prison of civilisation.' ^ 

In Peru the houses were inspected by Government 
officials, to see that the household was kept in proper 
order, and even that the children were under due control. 
In Madagascar any man who changed his locality or 
occupation without permission was liable to death. In 
Japan, until recently, the hours of rising, dining, and 
going to bed were fixed by law. ' Then we also 
' learned that with them every day throughout each 
' month has its fady or food which must not be eaten 
' when travelling on that day. Thus, on the first day 
' silkworms must not be eaten ; on the second Indian 
' corn is prohibited ; and so on successively, with sugar- 
cane, bananas, sweet potatoes, rice, jams, honey, earth- 
^ nuts, beans, katsaka, and voamaho.' ^ 

Mr. Lang, speaking of the Australians,^ tells us that, 
' instead of enjoying perfect personal freedom, as it 
' would at first appear, they are governed by a code of 
' rules and a set of customs which form one of the most 
' cruel tyrannies that has ever, perhaps, existed on the 
' face of the earth, subjecting not only the will, but the 
* property and life of the weak to the dominion of the 

^ Sir John B. Phear, The Aryan '^ Aborigines of Australia, p. 7. 

Village in India and Ceylon, p. 22. Eyre, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 385. See 

2 Heart of Africa, vol. i. p. 410. Note. 
^ FolkLoreRecord, vol. ii.p. 31. 

G G 2 



452 TYRANNY OF GUSTOM AMONG SAVAGES 

' strong. The whole tendency of the system is to give 
'everything to the strong and old, to the prejudice of 
' the weak and yoang, and more particularly to the 
' detriment of the women. They have rules by which 
' the best food, the best pieces, the best animals, &c., are 
' prohibited to the women and young men, and reserved 
' for the old. The women are generally appropriated to 
' the old and powerful, some of whom possess four to 
' seven wives ; while wives are altogether denied to 
^ young men, unless they have sisters to give in ex- 
' change, and are strong and courageous enough to 
^ prevent their sisters from being taken without ex- 
' change.' 

The Australian savage cannot even do as he likes 
with the game he has killed when hunting, but is tied 
down by strict rules which allot one leg to one member of 
his family, one to another, the breast to a third, and so on. 

Among the Mbayas of South America the married 
women are not allowed to eat beef, capibara, or monkey ; 
and the girls are forbidden to partake of any meat, or any 
fish which is more than a foot long. ' Les Chartreux 
' memes ne sont pas venus a ce point d'austerite.' ^ 

Amongst the Samoyedes, women may not eat the 
head of the reindeer, nor pass across a hut behind the 
fire. 

' To believe,' says Sir G. Grrey,^ ' that man in a 
' savage state is endowed with freedom, either of thought 
' or action, is erroneous in the hisrhest desfree.' 

In Tahiti,^ the men were allowed to eat the flesh of 

^ Azara's Voy. dans I'Amer. 217. 
M^ridionale. ^ Polynesian Researclies, vol. i. 



2 



Grey's Australia, vol. ii. p. p. 222. 



TYBANNY OF CUSTOM AMONG SAVAGES 453 

the pig, and of fowls, and a variety of fish, cocoa-nuts, 
and plantains, and whatever was presented as an offer- 
ing to the gods, which the females, on pain of death, 
were forbidden to touch, as it was supposed they would 
pollute them. The fires on which the men's food was 
cooked were also sacred, and were forbidden to be used 
by the females. The baskets in which their provisions 
were kept, and the house in which the men ate, were 
also sacred, and prohibited to the females under the 
same cruel penalty ; hence the inferior food, both for 
wives, daughters, &c., was cooked at separate fires, 
deposited in distinct baskets, and eaten in lonely 
solitude by the females in little huts erected for the 
purpose.' ' Nothing,' says the Bishop of Wellington, 
can be more mistaken than to represent the New 
Zealanders as a people without law and order. They 
are, and were, the slaves of law, rule, and prece- 
dent.' ' 

The head of a chief was regarded as especially 
sacred ; and Shortland gives an amusing account of a 
case in which an unfortunate child suffered sadly, 
because ' no one could for a long time be found of sufii- 
^ ciently high rank to cut his hair or wash his head.' ^ 

If savages pass unnoticed many actions which we 
should consider as highly criminal, on the other hand 
they strictly forbid others which we should consider 
altogether immaterial. 

The natives of Eussian America, near the Yukon 
river, ' have certain superstitions with regard to the 
' bones of animals, which they will neither throw on the 

1 Trans. Ethu. Soc, 1870, p. " Traditions of the New Zea- 

367. landers, p. 108. 



454 GUBI0U8 CUSTOMS 

' fire nor to the dogs, but save them in theii* houses or 
' caches. When they saw us careless in such matters, 
^ they said it would prevent them from catching or 
' shooting successfully. Also, they will not throw away 
' their hair or nails just cut short, but save them, hang- 
•ing them frequently in packages on the trees.' ^ The 
Mongols ^ think it a fault to touch the fire, or take 
fiesh out of the pot, with a knife,^ or to cleave wood with 
a hatchet near the hearth, imagining it takes away the 
fire's power. It is no less faulty to lean on a whip or 
touch arrows with it ; to kill young birds ; or pour 
liquor on the ground : to strike a horse with a bridle ; or 
break one bone against another. Mr. Tylor has already 
pointed out^ that almost exactly the same prohibitions 
occur in America. 

Some savage rules are very sensible. Thus Tanner 
states that the Algonkin Indians, when on a war-path, 
must not sit upon the naked ground, but must, at least, 
have some grass or bushes under them. They must, if 
possible, avoid wetting their feet ; but if they are com- 
pelled to wade through a swamp, or to cross a stream, 
they must keep their clothes dry. and whip their legs 
with bushes or grass when they come out of the water.^ 
For others the reason is not so obvious. Thus, the 
small bowls out of which they drink are marked across 
the middle ; in going out they must place one side to 
their mouth ; in returning, the other. The vessels 
must also on their return be thrown away or hung up 
in a tree. 

^ Whymper, Trans. Ethn. Soc, occurred among the Greeks. 
N.S., vol. vii. p. 174. ^ Early History of Man, p. 136. 

2 Astley's Coll., vol. iv. p. 548. ^ Tanner's Narrative, p. 123. 

^ It is curious that this idea also 



BULES RELATING TO HUNTING 455 

Hunting tribes generally have well-understood 
rules with reference to game. Among the Green- 
landers, should a seal escape with a hunter's javelin in 
it, and be killed by another man afterwards, it belongs 
to the former. But if the seal be struck with the har- 
poon and bladder, and the string break, the hunter 
loses his riglit. If a man find a seal dead with a har- 
poon in it, he keeps the seal, but returns the harpoon. 
In reindeer hunting, if several hunters strike a deer 
together, it belongs to the one whose arrow is nearest 
the heart. The arrows are all marked, so that no dis- 
pute can arise, but since guns have been introduced 
many quarrels have taken place. Any man who finds 
a piece of drift-wood (which in the far North is ex- 
tremely valuable) can appropriate it by placing a stone 
on it, as a sign that some one has taken possession of it. 
No other Greenlander will then touch it. 

Among the Khonds, hunters in pursuit of game have 
' an admitted right to pursue it to any place, either 
' within or without their own boundaries, until the 
' animal is killed or captured,' but it is also understood 
that ' the villagers on whose land it may be killed have 
' a right to a share of the meat.' ^ 

Agam, far from being informal or extemporary, 
the salutations, ceremonies, treaties, and contracts of 
savages are characterised by the very opposite qualities. 

Eyre mentions that in Australia, ' in their inter- 
' course with each other, natives of different tribes are 
' exceedingly punctilious.' ^ The same is the case with 
the natives of Guiana. 

^ Campbell's Wild Tribes of ^ Discoveries in Australia, vol. 

Khondistan, p. 41. ii. p. 214. 



456 LEGAL CLJBLJMONIES AND C0NTBAGT8 

Mariner gives a long account of the elaborate cere- 
monies practised by the Tongans, and of their ' regard 
^ for rank.' '^ The king ^ was by no means of the highest 
rank. The Tooitonga Veachi, and several other chiefs, 
preceded him. Indeed the name Tooitonga means 
Kino- of Tonera : the office, however, had come to be 
wholly of a religious character ; the Tooitonga being 
regarded as descended from the gods, if not a deity 
himself. He was so sacred that some words were 
retained for his exclusive use. Below Tooitonga and 
Yeachi came the priests, while civil society was divided 
into ^ye ranks — the king, the nobles, the Matabooles, 
the Mooas, and the Tooas. The child took the rank of 
the mother among the nobles, but the Matabooles were 
succeeded by the eldest son. 

Among the Micronesians, also, distinctions of rank 
were very strictly observed. Thus in Banabe, one of 
the Caroline Islands, there were three classes, and we 
are assured that even in battle ' a jDcrson of one class 
' never attacked one of another.' ^ 

It is curious that the use of the third person in 
token of respect occurs in Tonga, as well as some other 
countries. ' Thus the king of Tonga addressing the 
' Tooitonga says, " Ho egi Tooitonga ; " that is, literally, 
' thy Lord Tooitonga, in which the possessive pronoun 
' thy, or your, is used instead of my ; or if the word 
' egi be translated lordship or chiefship, the term of 
' address will be more consistent and similar to ours, 
' your lordship, your grace, your majesty. The title ho 
' egi is never used but in addressing a superior chief 

^ Tonga Islands, vol. ii. pp. 185, ' Loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 79. 

199, 207. 3 Hale's U.S. Expl. Exped., p. 83. 



COUBT LANGUAGE 457 

^ or speaking of a god, or in a public speech. Ho egi ! 
' also means chiefs, as in the commencement of Finow's 
' speech.' ^ 

In Samoa we are assured that the distmction be- 
tween the language of the ceremony and that of common 
life is even more marked than in Tonga.^ 

Samoan orators, moreover, are not satisfied to address 
their audience generally, but go over the names and 
titles, even with ancestral references. 

Here also the plural is always used in speaking to 
a superior. Mr. Turner mentions that the first time he 
was so addressed he felt somewhat hurt, for as he did not 
know the custom and happened to be riding, he thought 
the native intended to couple him with his horse. ^ 

In Fiji, if by chance a chief slipped or fell, every 
one of inferior rank was expected immediately to do the 
same, lest they should appear more careful or skilful 
than their superior. In such a case, however, the chief 
was expected to pay handsomely for the compliment."^ 

The Egbas, a negro race of West Africa, who are, 
says Burton,^ ' gifted with uncommon loquacity and 
' spare time, have invented a variety of salutations and 
' counter- salutations applicable to every possible occa- 
' sion. For instance, Oji re, did you wake well ? 
' Akwaro, good morning ! Akuasan, good day ! Akwale, 
' good evening ! Akware, to one tired. Akushe, to 
' one at work. Akurin (from rin, to walk), to a tra- 
' veller. Akule, to one in the house. Akwatijo, after 
' a long absence. Akwalejo, to a stranger. Akurajo, to 

^ Mariner, vol. ii. p. 142. ■* Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. 

2 Hale's U.S. Expl. Exp., p. 286. p. 39. 

^ Nineteen Years in Polynesia, ^ Burton's Abeokuta, vol. i. 

p. 340. p. 113. 



458 GBADATI0N8 OF BANK 

' one in distress. Akujiko, to one sitting. Akudardo 
' to one standing. Akuta, to one selling. Wolebe (be 
^ careful), to one met, and so forth. The servile shash- 
^ tanga or prostration of the Hindus is also a universal 
^ custom. It is performed in different ways ; the most 
^general is, after depositing the burden and clapping 
' hands once, twice, or thrice, to go on all fours, touch 
' the ground with the belly and breast, the forehead 
' and both sides of the face successively ; kiss the earth, 
' half rise up, then pass the left over the right forearm, 
' and vice versa, and finally, after again saluting mother 

* Hertha, to stand erect. The performance usually takes 

* place once a day on first meeting, but meetings are so 
^ numerous that at least one hour out of the twenty- 
^ four must thus be spent by a man about town.' 

Livingstone^ was particularly struck, in passing 
through the spillage, with the punctiliousness of man- 
' ners shown by the Balonda. The inferiors, on meet- 
' ing their superiors in the streets, at once drop on 
' their knees and rub dust on their arms and chest. 
' They continue the salutation of clapping the hands 
' until the great ones have passed . ' Among the Bedouins 
it is said that, when friends meet, the compliments rarely 
last less than ten minutes. 

In the religious customs of Tahiti,^ ' however large 
or costly the sacrifices that had been offered, and 
however near its close the most protracted ceremony 
might be, if the priest omitted or misplaced any word 
in the prayers with which it was always accompanied, 
or if his attention was diverted by any means, so that 

^ Travels in South Africa, ^ Ellis's Polynesian Kesearclies, 

p. 296. vol. ii. p. 157. 



SALUTATIONS AND CEUEMONIES 459 

* the prayer was hai, or broken, the whole was rendered 
' unavailable ; he must prepare other victims and repeat 
' his prayers over from the commencement.' 

In America, the Wild Comanche is greatly offended 
by any breach of his rules of etiquette, and when Arau- 
canians meet, the compliments generally last at least 
ten minutes. 

Public business, moreover, among uncivilised and 
semi- civilised peoples is conducted with tedious for- 
mality. Thus in Fiji ^ ' old forms are strictly ob- 
' served and innovations opposed. An abundance of 
' measured clapping of hands and subdued exclamations 
' characterise these occasions. Whale's teeth and other 
' property are never exchanged or presented without the 
' following or similar form : " A ! woi ! woi ! woi ! A ! 
' " woi ! woi ! woi ! ! A tabua \evu ! woi ! woi ! A mudua, 
' "mudua, mudua! " (clapping).' But little considera- 
tion is required to show that this is quite natural. In the 
absence of writing, evidence of contracts must depend 
on the testimony of witnesses, and it is necessary, there- 
fore, to avoid all haste which might lead to forgetfulness, 
and to imprint the ceremony as much as possible on the 
minds of those present. 

Among the Romans an importance was attached 
to formalities and expressions, which seem to us most 
excessive, ' Celui,' for instance, says Ortolan, ' qui 
'dira vignes (vites) parce qu'il plaide sur des vignes, 

* au lieu de dire arbores, terme sacramental de la loi, 
' perdra son proces.' ^ Under the Emperors, however, 
this strictness was considerably relaxed.^ 

^ Williams' Fiji and the Fijians, - Ortolan's Justinian, vol. i. 

vol. i. p. 28. p. 519. ^ Loc. dt. p. 354. 



460 CONDUCT OF PUBLIC BUSINESS 

Passing on to the question of property, ' La premiere 
' loi,' says Goguet/ 'qu'on aura etablie, aura ete pour 
' assigner et assurer a chaque habitant une certaine 
' quantite de terrain.' 

The same view has been taken by other writers. It 
does not, however, appear that property in land implies, 
or necessarily arose from, agriculture. On the contrary, 
it exists even in hunting communities. Usually, indeed, 
during the hunting stage, property in land is tribal, not 
individual. The North American Indians seem, as a 
general rule, to have had no individual property in 
land. It appears, therefore, at first sight, remarkable 
that among the Australians,^ who are in most respects 
so much lower in the scale, ' every male has some portion 
'of land, of which he can always point out the exact 
' boundaries. These properties are subdivided by a 
' father among his sons during his own lifetime and 
' descend in almost hereditary succession. A man can 
' dispose of or barter his lands to others, but a female 
' never inherits, nor has primogeniture among the sons 
' any peculiar rights or advantages.' Nay, more than 
this, there are some tracts of land, peculiarly rich in gum, 
&c., over which, at the period when the gum is in season, 
numerous families have an acknowledged right, although 
they are not allowed to come there at other times. ^ Even 
the water of the rivers is claimed as property by some 
of the Australian tribes. ' Trespass for the purpose of 
' hunting ' is in Australia regarded as a capital offence, 
and is when possible punished with death. ^ 



^ Zoc. cit. Grey's Australia, vol. ii. p. 232. 

^ Eyre, Discoveries in Australia, ^ Grey's Australia, vol. ii. p. 298. 

vol. ii. p. 297. See also Laug in ^ Loc. cit. p. 236. 



PBOPEBTY IN LAND 461 

The explanation seems to be tliat the Redskins 
depended mainly on the larger game, while the Austra- 
lians fed on opossums, reptiles, insects, roots, &c. The 
Redskin, therefore, if land had been divided into indi- 
vidual allotments, might have been starved in the 
vicinity of abundance ; while the Australian could 
generally obtain food on his own property. 

Amoner the tribes of the Zambesi, accordinof to Living- 
stone, if a hunter follows a woanded elephant and 
kills it on the land of another tribe, the under side 
of the animal belongs to that tribe, and the hunter must 
not begin to cut it up until some representative of the 
landowners is present to see that the division is fairly 
made. 

In Polynesia,^ wherever cultivation was carefully at- 
tended to, as in Tahiti, ' every portion of land has its 
' respective owner ; and even the distinct trees on the 
' land had sometimes different proprietors, and a tree 
' and the land it grew on different owners.' 

The forms of land tenure in different parts of the 
world are indeed extraordinarily diverse, and some of 
the rules are very curious. For instance, the United 
States Consul at Sivas, in Asia Minor, in a recent re- 
port (1888) on his district describes the various tenures 
of land, and, finally, one called mevat, which is determined 
in a manner truly Oriental. It relates to small pieces of 
State lands situated between the boundaries of villages. 
The theory of this species of tenure is that the pasture 
or common land of a village should not extend more than 
a certain distance, so that quarrels with the neighbour- 

1 Ellis's Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 362. Dieffenbach, vol. ii. 
p. 114. 



462 FBOPBBTY IN LAND 

ino- villages may be avoided. This limit is ascertained 
in this way. One of the villagers, st anding on the steps 
or minarets of the mosque, calls out at the top of his 
voice. The point beyond which his voice cannot be 
heard is the limit of the village property and common 
pasturage. At the neighbouring village the same per- 
formance is gone through, and the land between the 
two points is mevat, and belongs to the State.^ 

In some of the wilder parts of Switzerland the 
peasant goes up over night to the patches of hay on pre- 
cipitous places to which cows cannot climb, and at sun- 
rise on Jacob's day (old style) shouts out his name. If 
no one answers, the hay is his ; if on the contrary any 
one replies, they divide it between them.^ 

Even an agricultural condition does not necessarily 
require individual property in land ; on the contrary, 
we find evidences in so many countries of the existence 
of village communities, holding land in common, that 
there seems strong reason to suppose that in the history 
of human progress the individual property in land was 
always preceded by a period in which moveable property 
alone was individual, while the land was common.^ 

Tacitus mentions that among the ancient Grermans 
the arable lands were occupied in turns,^ and Caesar^ 
states that the magistrates lotted out the lands, changing 
the allotment each year. 

In New Zealand there were three distinct tenures 
of land :^ viz. by the tribe, by the family, and by the 

1 The Times, February 13, Tenure, p. 362, et seq. 
1888. ^ Germania, xxvi. 

2 Christ, Das Pflanzenleben der ^ De Bello Gallico, xxii. 
Schwyz, p. 311. ^ Taylor's New Zealand and its 

3 Faucher, in Systems of Land Inhabitants, p. 384. 



COMMUNAL PROFEETY 463 

individual. The common rights of a tribe were often 
very extensive, and complicated by intermarriages. 
Children, as soon as they were born, had a rio-ht to 
a share of the family property. Shortland, however, 
states 'that the head of the family had a recognised 
' right to dispose of his property among his male ofF- 
' spring and kinsmen.' ^ Probably on these points the 
custom was not the same in all the tribes. 

M. de Laveleye has described similar communities 
in Java, and M. Renan among certain Semitic tribes in 
Northern Africa.^ 

In some cases, land was private property for a por- 
tion of the year,^ and belonged to the community for 
the remainder. Thus our ' Lammas Lands ' were so 
called, because they w^ere private property until Lam- 
mas day (August 1), by which time the crops were 
supposed to be gathered in ; after which period they 
were subject to common rights of pasturage till the 
spring. These meadows were seldom manm-ed, and, as 
the portions assigned were often exceedingly small, it 
was difficult to retain the exact boundaries durino" the 

o 

joint occupation of the land ; it was therefore most con- 
venient to make a fresh partition each year. 

Throughout India we still find the system of village 
communities, holding the land in common,^ with, in 
some cases, periodical division.^ 

^ Shortland's Traditions, &c., of bohm, The English Village Commu- 

the New Zealanders, p. 273. nity. 

^ Early History of Institutions, * Maine's Village Communities 

p. 77. in the East and West. Phear, The 

^ Nasse, On the Agric. Comm. Aryan Village in India and Ceylon, 
of the Middle Ages. Pub. by the '" Tupper, Bengal Customary 

Cobden Club, 1871. See also See- Law, vol. iii. p. 139. 



464 COMMUNAL FBOFEBTY 

In some parts of Russia, ' after the expiration of a 
' given, but not in all cases of the same, period, separate 
' ownerships are extinguished, the land of the village is 
' thrown into a mass, and then it is re- distributed among 
*the families composing the community, according to 
' their number. This re-partition having been effected, 
' the rights of families and of individuals are again 
' allowed to branch out into various lines, which they 
' continue to follow till another period of division comes 
' round.' ^ That a similar state of things formerly 
existed in Ireland is indicated in the Brehon laws. 

It is stated to have been a principle of the earliest 
Sclavonian laws that the property of families could not 
be divided for a perpetuity. Even now, in parts of 
Servia, Croatia, and Austrian Sclavonia, the entire 
land is cultivated by the villagers and the produce is 
annually divided. 

In Mexico certain lands called ' Altapeltalli ' be- 
longed to the district, and were inalienable. 

In Peru, again, the land belonged to the State, and 
every year a fresh allotment took 23lace, an additional 
portion being granted for every child ; the amount 
allowed for a son being twice as much as for a daughter.^ 

Diodorus Siculus informs us that the Celtiberians 
divided their land annually among individuals, to be 
cultivated for the use of the public ; and that the pro- 
duct was stored up and distributed from time to time 
among the necessitous. ^ 

^ Maine's Ancient Law, p. 267. Eites and Laws of the Incas, 

'-^ Wuttke's Ges, der Menschheit, p. 162. 
vol. i. p. 328 ; Prescott, vol. i. p. 44. ^ Lord Kames' History of Man, 

A somewhat different account is vol. i. p. 93. 
given by Polo de Ondegardo, 



LAWS OF INHEEITANGE 465 

It does not necessarily follow that property in land 
involves the power of sale. ' We are too apt/ says 
Campbell,^ ' to forget that property in land, as a trans - 
' ferable mercantile commodity, absolutely owned and 
' passing from hand to hand like any chattel, is not an 
' ancient institution, but a modern development, reached 
' only in a few very advanced countries.' ' It may be 
'said,' he adds,^ 'of all landed tenures in India pre- 
' vious to our rule, that they were practically not trans - 
' ferable by sale, and that only certain classes of the 
' better defined claims were to some extent transferable 
' by mortgage. The seizure and sale of land for private 
' debt were wholly and utterly unknown — such an idea 
' had never entered into the native imagination.' So 
also the sale of land was forbidden in some parts of 
Greece, among some of the Teutonic, Slavonic, and 
Celtic tribes, as also among the Mayas of Yucatan and 
Nicaragua.^ 

In Leviticus it is enacted that ' The land shall not 
' be sold for ever.' ^ 

In the Fiji Islands 'land was in the nature of a 
' strictly entailed estate,' and no one could alienate, under 
any circumstances, more than his own life interest.^ 

In Egypt, when a Fellah borrowed on his land he 
was held to have pledged the produce only, and under 
the old law no creditor could compel a debtor to sell the 
land itself.^ 

Still less does the possession of land necessarily imply 

^ Systems of Land Tenure, ^ Mem. by Governor Sir A. 

p. 151. Gordon, Correspondence relative to 

2 Ibid, p. 171. Land Claims in Fiji, 1883. 

3 Bancroft, vol. ii. p. 652. '' Report on Egypt by Mr. V. 
^ Leviticus xxv. 23. Stuart, Pari. Paper, 0. 3554. 1883. 

H H 



466 LAWS OF INHERIT AN GJE 

the power of testamentary disposition, and we find as a 
matter of fact that the will is a legal process of very late 
origin. 

In many cases it seems to be held that the title to 
property ceases with the life of the owner. 

It is stated that formerly, when a Grreenlander died, 
if he had no grown-up children, his property was re- 
garded as having no longer an owner, and every one took 
what he chose, or at least what he could get, without 
the slightest regard to the wretched widow or children.^ 
Ellis makes a similar statement as regards the 
Hawaiians.^ In the Fiji Islands, on Yanua Levu, ' for 
some days after the decease of a ruling chief, if his 
death be known to the people, the wildest anarchy 
prevails. The " subject tribes " rush into the chief 
town, kill pigs and fowls, snatch any property they 
can lay their hands on, set fire to houses, and play all 
manner of mischievous pranks, the townsfolk oflfering 
no resistance.'^ It would seem,, however, to be only 
the chief's own property which is liable to attacks.* 

I have already mentioned {ante^ p. 404) the state of 
entire lawlessness which exists in parts df Africa and 
in some of the Polynesian Islands between the death of 
one ruler and the election of his successor. 

' Even in our own country down to the reign of John, 
' ofi'ences committed during the interregnum, or period 
' elapsing between the day of the death of the last monarch 
^ and the recognition of his successor, were unpunishable 
' in those tribunals whose authority was derived from the 

1 Crantz's Hist, of Greenland, ^ -p\]\ and the Fijians, vol. i. 
vol. i. p. 192. p. 187. 

2 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, * Fison, Jour. Anthr.Inst^ vol. x. 
2nd edit. vol. iv. p. 177. p. 140. 



LAWS OF INHEBITANCE 467 

' Crown.' ^ This continued, indeed, to be the case for 
nearly a century afterwards, when it was put an end to 
by the legal fiction that the king never dies. 

The early history of wills is indeed most interesting. 
Sir H. Maine, in his excellent work on Ancient Law, 
points out that the essence of a will, as now understood, 
is — firstly, that it should take efi'ect at death ; secondly, 
that it may be secret ; and, thirdly, that it is revocable. 
Yet even in Koman law wills acquired these character- 
istics but slowly and gradually, and in the earlier 
stages of civilisation wills were generally unknown. 

In Athens, the power of willing was introduced by 
Solon ; only, however, in cases when a person died 
childless. In Sparta wills were not legal until after 
the Peloponnesian war.^ The Barbarians on the north 
of the Roman empire were, says Maine,^ ' confessedly 
' strangers to any such conception as that of a Will. 
' The best authorities agree that there is no trace of it 
'in those parts of their written codes which comprise 
' the customs practised by them in their original seats, 
' and in their subsequent settlement on the edge of the 
' Roman EmfHre.' And again, in studying the ancient 
German laws, ' one result has invariably disclosed 
' itself — that the ancient nucleus of the code contains 
' no trace of a will.' "^ 

The Hindoos were also entu^e strangers to the will.^ 

It is therefore very remarkable that in Australia ' a 
' father divides his land during his lifetime, fairly ap- 
' portioning it amongst his several sons, and at as early 

^ Stubbs, Constitutional History ^ Loc. cit. p. 196. 

of England, vol. i. pp. 182, 513. ^ Maine's Ancient Law, p. 193. 

2 L*-cite antique, p. 88. Campbell in Systems of Land 

3 Loc. cit. p. 172. Tenure, p. 177. 

H H 3 



468 ABSENCE OF WILLS 

' an age as fourteen or fifteen they can point out the 
' portion which they are eventually to inherit.' ^ 

Again, in Tahiti, the system of willing is said to have 
been (I presume when there were no children) in fullforce,^ 
' not only with reference to land but to any other kind 
' of property. Unacquainted with letters, they could not 
' leave a written will ; but, during a season of illness, 
'those possessing property frequently called together 
Hhe members of the family or confidential friends, 
' and to them gave directions for the disposal of their 
' effects after their decease.' 

For the modern will, however, we are mainly in- 
debted to the Romans, and they only arrived at it by 
a slow and tortuous process. At first, indeed, Eoman 
wills, if so they may be called, were neither secret, 
deferred, nor revocable. On the contrary, they were 
made in public, before not less than five witnesses ; 
they took efi*ect at once, and were irrevocable. 

It seems probable that in the first instance the power 
of willing was only recognised when there were no 
sons. The Romans devoutly believed that the spirits of 
their fathers hovered round the household hearth and 
fed on the ghosts of the food offered up to them. These 
offerings the son alone would or could make. Hence 
in the absence of a true son, it was of great importance 
to secure one by some other process. This seems to 
have been the original object of the will ; the inheri- 
tance following as a natural consequence. But as this 
imposed various duties on the heir — one being to pay all 
the debts of the deceased, even when there was no pro- 

^ Eyre's Australia, vol. ii. ^ Ellis, Polynesian Researches, 

p. 236. vol. ii. p. 362. 



HISTORY OF WILLS 469 

perty to meet tliem — the solemn consent of the heir was 
required, and most elaborate formalities were prescribed. 
If none of the heirs named in the will would accept the 
office, the whole will became null and void. That the 
original object of the will was to create a son, explains 
also the fact that even down to the time of Hadrian a 
will was rendered invalid when a ' posthumus suus ' 
arose — i.e. when a son was born after the will was 
made. 

There was, moreover, another reason which gave 
great importance to the will. For various reasons it 
would be the wish of the father to emancipate his 
favourite sons ; but as soon as this was effected they 
ceased to belong to the family, and could not conse- 
quently inherit as heirs at law. On the death of a 
Eoman citizen, in the absence of a will, the property 
descended to the unemancipated children, and after them 
to the nearest grade of the agnatic kindred. Hence, 
the same feeling which induced a Roman to emancipate 
his sons impelled him also to make a will, for, if he 
did not, emancipation involved disinheritance. 

The testamentary forms remained extremely complex 
even down to the latest times of the Roman Empire, 
but the inconvenience was to a great extent obviated by 
the invention of the ' codicil.' 

In the absence of wills, the interests of the children 
were in some cases secured by customs resembling 
those of the Russian village communities, or ' Mirs,' in 
which children have a right to their share as soon as 
they are born. Nor are such rights confined to com- 
munal properties. In some countries the children have 
a vested right to a portion of their father's estate. 



470 HINDOO CUSTOMS 

Here, therefore, in the absence of children, the will is 
replaced by adoption. 

Among the Hindoos, ^ the instant a son is born ^ he 
' acquires a vested right in his father's property, which 
' cannot be sold without recognition of his jpint-owner- 
' ship. On the son's attaining fall age, he can some- 
' times compel a partition of the estate, even against 
'the consent of the parent ; and, should the parent 
' acquiesce, one son can always have a partition even 
'against the will of the others. On such partition 
' taking place, the father has no advantage over his 
' children, except that he has two of the shares instead 
' of one. The ancient law of the German tribes was 
' exceedingly similar. The Allod or domain of the 
' family was the joint property of the father and his 
' sons.' 

Among the Mukkuvas of Ceylon,^ when a woman 
dies, the right of dominion descends to her daughters 
in equal shares, or if any of them are dead, to their 
representatives, per stirpes, but on the other hand the 
right of possession goes to the sons, per capita. The 
children of sons who may have predeceased her do not 
take any share in the possession. On the other hand, 
the enjoyment of land passes from a man to his sur- 
viving brothers, and after their death to their sisters. 
These laws seem to have arisen from the rule that the 
sale of land was not permitted, and that, as men marry 
out of their ' kudi ' or clan, and that as land could not 
be removed, a man when he left his ' kudi ' on marriage 
left the land behind him. If a woman has been twice 
married, any property which she may have inherited 

Maine's Ancient Law, p. 228. ~ Brito, The Mukkuva Law, p. 30. 



RIGHTS OF GEILDBEN 471 

from her mother goes to the children by the first 
marriage ; while, if a man leaves children by more 
than one marriage, the children of each marriage get a 
portion equal to what they would have got if a division 
of the property had been made immediately after the 
dissolution of the marriage from which they sprang. 
Here again, therefore, on the birth of children, their 
parents become in some respects trustees on their behalf.^ 

According to ancient German law, also, children 
were co-proprietors with their father, and the family 
property could not be parted with except by general 
consent. 

This probably explains the remarkable custom 
that in many parts of Polynesia the son was con- 
sidered of higher rank than the father ; and that in 
some cases — as, for instance, in the Marquesas and in 
Tahiti — the king abdicated as soon as a son was born to 
him ; while landowners under similar circumstances lost 
the fee- simple of their land, and became mere trustees 
for the infant possessors.^ 

The Basutos have a strict system of primogeniture, 
and, even durino^ the father's life, the eldest son has 
considerable power both over the property and the 
younger children.'^ 

The same system, in combination with inheritance 
through females, is also in full force in Fiji, where 
it is known as Vasu. The word means a nephew or 
niece, ' but becomes a title of office in the case of the 
' male, who in some localities has the extraordinary 

1 Loc. cit. p. 24. vol. vi. pp. 210, 216, 219. 

'^ Ellis's Polynesian Researches, ^ Casalis' Basutos, p. 179. 

vol. ii. pp. 346, 347 ; Waitz, Anthr., 



472 BIGHTS OF CHILDJSEN 

' privilege of appropriating whatever he chooses belong- 
' ing to his uncle, or those under his uncle's power.' ^ 
This is one of the most remarkable parts of Fiji 
despotism. ' However high a chief may be, if he has 
' a nephew he has a master,' and resistance is rarely 
thought of. Thakonauto, while at war with his uncle, 
actually supplied himself with ammunition from his 
uncle's stores. 

Perhaps also the curious custom of naming the 
father after the child may have originated from some 
such regulation. Thus in Australia,^ when a man's 
eldest child is named, the father takes ' the name of the 
' child, Kadlitpinna, the father of Kadli : the mother 
^ is called Kadlingangki, the mother of Kadli, from 
' ngangki, a female or woman.' This custom seems 
very general throughout the continent. Among the 
Bechuanas of South Africa also ' the parents take the 
' name of the child.' Mrs. Livingstone's eldest boy being 
' named Robert, she was, after his birth, always called 
' Ma-Robert,' the mother of Robert.^ Dr. Callaway 
also mentions the existence of this custom among 
the Kaffirs, suggesting that as a woman must not 
pronounce her husband's name, she might naturally 
come to address him as ' father of so-and-so.' ^ In 
Madagascar also parents often take the name of their 
eldest child. ^ 

In Sumatra ' the father,*" in many parts of the coun- 



1 Fiji and the Fijians, vol. i. the Amazulu, p. 316. 

P« 34. 5 Sibree's Madagascar and its 

2 Eyre, lac. cit. vol. ii. p. 325. People, p. 198. 

3 Livingstone's Travels in South •' Marsden's History of Sumatra, 
Africa, p. 126. p. 286. 

^ Callaway, Religious System of 



1 



F ABE NTS NAMED AFTER THEIR CHILDREN 473 

^ try, particularly in Passum-mah, is distinguished by 
'the name of his first child, as " Pa-ladin," or '• Pa- 
' '' Rindu," Pa for bapa, signifying *' the father of," 
' and loses, in this acquired, his own proper, name. 
' The women never change the name given them at the 
' time of their birth ; yet frequently they are called 
' through courtesy, from their eldest child, " Ma si ano," 
' the mother of such an one ; but rather as a polite 
' description than a name.' In the Andaman Islands 
also the father and mother take the name of the 
child.i 

' Among the Kutchin of North America^ the father 
' takes his name from his son or daughter, not the son 
' from the father as with us. The father's name is 
'formed by the addition of the word "tee" to the 
' end of the son's name ; for instance, Que-ech-et may 
' have a son and call him Sah-neu. The father is 
' now called Sah-neu-tee, and the former name of 
' Que-ech-et is forgotten.' The same custom occurs in 
Guatemala.^ 

As a general rule property descends to the eldest 
son, or is divided between all ; but in some cases the 
youngest son inherits the property. Thus Duhalde 
mentions that this is the rule among the Tartars, giving 
as a reason that the elder ones, as they reach manhood, 
leave the paternal tent, and take with them the quantity 
of cattle which their father chooses to give them. Ar- 
bousset mentions that, according to Kaffir law, the 
successor to a chief must be chosen from among the 

' Man. Journ. Anthr. Inst., 1882, 1866, p. 326. 
p. 129. ^ Bancroft, loc. cit. vol. ii. 

2 Jones, Smithsonian Report, p. 680. 



474 LAJV8 OF INHEBITANGE 

younger sons, the two eldest being ineligible.^ " In 
Northern Australia, according to Macgillivray,^ both 
sexes share alike, but the youngest child receives the 
largest portion. The same is said to be the case in 
parts of New Zealand. It also occurs among the 
Kanets of the Punjab.^ Dr. Anderson states that the 
youngest son inherits the largest portion among the 
Shans and Kakhyens of Western Yunan.^ A similar 
custom existed among the Mrus of the Arrawak hills ; ^ 
it prevailed in Germany as well as Picardy and Artois, 
where it was known as M.ainete, i.e. minor natu, and even 
in some districts of our own country, under the name 
Borough English.^ 

There are also cases, as, for instance, among the 
Hindoos, in which the rule of primogeniture is followed 
as regards office or j)Ower politically, but not with 
reference to property. 

The Singphos ^ ' have a peculiar custom. The eldest 
' takes the landed estate with the titles, the youngest 
' the personalties ; the intermediate brethren, when any 
' exist, are excluded from all participation, and remain 
' in attendance on the chief or head of the family as 
' during the lifetime of their father.' 

As regards the punishment of crime we find that, 
among the lower races of men the chiefs scarcely 
take any cognisance of offences, unless they relate to 
such things as directly concern, or are supposed to 

1 Tour to the N.E. of the Cape pp. 117, 131. 

of Good Hope, p. 149. ^ Lewin's Hill Tracts of Chitta- 

2 Voyage of H.M.S. ' Battle- gong, p. 194. 

snake,' vol, ii. p. 28. ^ Wren Hoskyns in Customs of 

^ Tupper, Punjab Customary Land Tenure, p. 104. 

Law, p. 192. 7 Dalton's Des. Ethn. of Bengal, 

^ Expedition to Western Yunan, p. 13. 



THE PUNISHMENT OF OBIME 475 

concern, the interests of the community generally. As 
regards private injuries, every one must protect or 
avenge himself. The administration of justice, says 
Du Tertre,^ ' among the Caribbians is not exercised by 
' the captain, nor by any magistrate ; but, as it is among 
^ the Tapinambous, he who thinks himself injured gets 
' such satisfaction of his adversary as he thinks fit, 
' according as his passion dictates to hun or his strength 
' permits him. The public does not concern itself at all 
' in the punishment of criminals ; and if any one among 
' them suffers an inj ary or aifront, without endeavour- 
' ing to revenge himself, he is slighted by all the rest.' 

In Ancient Greece there were no officers whose duty 
it was to prosecute criminals.^ Even in the case of 
murder, the State did not take the initiative ; this was 
left to the family of the sufferer, nor was the accused 
placed under arrest until he was found guilty. Hence 
the criminal usually fled as soon as he found himself 
likely to be condemned. 

Among the North American Indians,^ if a man is 
murdered, ' the family of the deceased only have the 
' right of taking satisfaction ; they collect, consult, and 
' decree. The rulers of a town or of the nation have 
' nothing to do or say in the business.' Indeed, it 
would seem that the object of legal regulations was at 
first not so much to punish the offender as to restrain 
and mitigate the vengeance inflicted by the aggrieved 
party. The duty of revenge might also tend to diminish 
crime. 

^ History of the Caribby Islands, Toy. dans I'Amdr. Min., vol. ii. p. 16. 

p. 316. Labat also makes a very ~ Goguet, vol. ii. p. 69. 

similar statement, Voyage aiix Isles ^ Trans. Amer. Antiq, Soc.,vol. i. 

de I'Amerique, vol. ii. p. 83. Azara, p. 281. 



470 REGULATED REVENGE 

We find the vendetta as a recognised custom not 
only in Africa, but among Semitic races, as the Jews 
and Arabs ; in Europe among the Celts, Teutons, 
and Slavs, in Montenegro and Greece, in the Caucasus, 
among the Afghans, and in India, in Siam, among 
the Polynesians and Malays, and in America. Origin- 
ally, no doubt, the liability to revenge was not confined 
to the actual ofi'ender, but extended to his whole 
family. 

From this point of view the old theory was that the 
two parties invoked the arbitration of the civil power, 
and unless they did so the State had no right to act. 
Hence probably the importance attached to the pleading 
of the prisoner ; if he refused to plead, theoretically the 
court could not interfere ; hence force and sometimes 
even torture were used to compel him to do so. Ulti- 
mately silence was construed as equivalent to a plea of 
not guilty. 

By degrees the right of revenge was limited in 
various ways, especially as to those by whom it may 
be exercised, those on whom it may be exercised, the 
injuries for which it can be inflicted, and the extent to 
which punishment ought to be extended. Obvious con- 
venience led also in some cases to the recognition of 
certain occasions on which it was unlawful to revenge 
injuries, as for instance during particular feasts, at certain 
recognised markets, during marriage festivities, &c. In 
other cases, as amongst the Jews, cities of refuge were 
established. 

The amount of legal revenge, if I may so call it, is 
often strictly regulated, even where we should least 
expect to find such limitations. Thus in Western Aus- 



BEGULATEB REVENGE 4^77 

tralia,^ crimes ' may be compounded by the criminal 
' appearing and committing himself to the ordeal of 
^ having spears thrown at him by all such persons as 
* conceive themselves to have been aggrieved.' So 
strictly is the amount of punishment limited that if, in 
inflictmg such spear wounds, a man, either through care- 
lessness or from any other cause exceeded the recognised 
limits — if, for instance, he wounded the femoral artery 
— he would in his turn become liable to punishment. 
This custom does not appear to exist in South Australia, 
but it also occurs in New South Wales. ^ 

Mr. Farrar states that in Afghanistan, where an 
assembly of the elders act as ' the judges of the peoj)le, a 
' show is always made of delivering up the criminal to 
' the accuser, and of giving the latter the chance of re- 
' taliating, though it is perfectly understood that he must 
' comply with the wishes of the assembly.' ^ 

Such cases as these seem to throw great light 
on the origin of the idea of property. Possession de 
facto needs, of course, no explanation. When, however, 
any rules were laid down regulating the amount or 
mode of veno^eance which mio^ht be taken in reveno-e for 
disturbance ; or when the chief thought it worth while 
himself to settle disputes about possession, and thus, 
while increasing his own dignity, to check quarrels 
which might be injurious to the general interests of the 
tribe, the natural effect would be to develop the idea of 
mere possession into that of property. 

In the earlier stages of human development no 



^ Sir G. Grey's Australia, vol. ii. tralia, vol. ii. p. 389. 
p. 243. ^ Primitive Manners and Cus- 

- Eyre's Exp. into Central Aus- toms, p. 7. 



478 THE LAWS OF FROFBBTY 

distinction seems to have been drawn between crimes 
and injuries. Any harm done, whether intentional or 
not, was resented and revenged either by the sufferer 
himself or his clan. Hence, in so many cases, any 
crime, even murder, might be atoned for by the payment 
of such a sum of money as satisfied the representatives 
of the murdered man. This payment was proportioned 
to the injury done, and had no relation to the crime as 
a crime. Hence, as the injury was the same whether 
the death was accidental or designed, so also was the 
penalty. Hence our word ' pay,' which comes from the 
Latin ' Pacare,' to appease or pacify. 

Among the Kaffirs,^ for instance, ' the law makes no 
^ distinction between a murder from malice or fore- 
' thought, or from one committed on the impulse of the 
'moment or in revenge for the blood of a relative. 
' A man is punished for taking the law into his own 
^ hands, and in no case is he justified in doing so, 
' even in a case of retaliation.' On the other hand, ' the 
'law does not appear to demand compensation for 
' what is clearly proved to be a purely accidental injury 
' to property, although it will do so in accidental injuries 
' to the persons of individuals, if the injury is of a serious 
« nature, as the latter would come under the head of 
' criminal cases, and therefore could only be overlooked 
' or the fine remitted by the chief himself ' ^ Among the 
Bogos and Barens also death is avenged, no matter to 
what cause it may be due. 

The Komans, on the contrary, based any claim for 
compensation on the existence of a ' culpa ; ' and hence 

^ Kaffir Laws and Customs, ^ jf^-^ ^ q^ g^^ ^j^^ ^^^ 

p. 110. See also p. 60. 



I 



MANIFEST AND N0N-MANIFE8T THIEVES 479 

laid it down that where there had been no ' culpa,' no 
action for reparation could lie. This led to very incon- 
venient consequences. Thus, as Lord Karnes^ has 
pointed out, if a ship were driven by the violence of a 
tempest among the anchor ropes of another ship and 
the sailors cut the ropes, having no other means of 
getting free, they would not be liable for the damage. 
The Aquilian law must be understood to apply only 
to such damage as carries the idea of an injury along 
with it, unless such injury has not been wilfully done, 
but from necessity. ' Thus Celsus puts the case of a 
' person who, to stop the progress of a fire pulls down his 
' neio-hbour's house ; and whether the fire had reached 
' that house which is pulled down, or was extinguished 
' before it got to it, in neither case, he thmks, will an 
' action be competent from the Aquilian law.' 

It would, however, appear that, even in Roman law, 
the opposite and more usual principle originally pre- 
vailed. This is indicated, for instance, by the great 
difi'erence in the penalties imposed by ancient laws on 
ofi*enders caught in the act, and those only detected 
afterwards. In the old Roman law, as in that of some 
other countries, thieves were divided into manifest and 
non-manifest. The manifest thief, who was caught in 
the act, or at any rate with the stolen goods still in his 
possession, became, according to the law of the twelve 
tables, the slave of the person robbed, or, if he were 
already a slave, was put to death. The non-manifest 
thief, on the other hand, was only liable to return 
double the value of the goods he had stolen. Subse- 
quently, the very severe punishment in the case of the 

1 History of Man, vol. iv. p. 34. 



480 THE WEEBGELD 

manifest thief was mitigated, but lie was still forced 
to pay four times the value of what he had stolen, or 
twice as much as a non-manifest thief. 

The same principle was followed by the North 
American Indians/ Again, in the German and Anglo- 
Saxon codes, a thief caught in the act might be killed 
on the spot. Thus the law followed the old principles 
of private vengeance, and in settling the amount of 
punishment took as a guide the measure of revenge 
likely to be taken by an aggrieved person under the 
circumstances of the case.^ 

In the South Sea Islands, according to Williams,^ 
cases of theft were seldom brought before the king or 
chiefs, but the people avenged their own injuries. The 
rights of retaliation, however, had almost a legal force, 
for ' although the party thus plundered them, they 
' would not attempt to prevent the seizure : had they 
' done so, the population of the district would have 
' assisted those who, according to the established cus- 
' tom, were thus punishing the aggressors. Such was 
' the usual method resorted to for punishing the petty 
' thefts committed among themselves.' 

That crimes were originally regarded as injuries to 
the sufferer only, naturally led, in many cases, to the sub- 
stitution of fines for bodily punishments. Thus, among 
the Anglo-Saxons the ' wehrgeld,' or fine for injuries, 
was evidently a substitute for personal vengeance. Every 
part of the body had a recognised value, even the teeth, 
nails, and hair. Nay, the value assigned to the latter 

^ Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc, vol. i. ^ Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. 

p. 285. pp. 369, 372. 

2 See Maine, loc. cit. p. 378. 



TR:E WEHBGELD 481 

was proportionately very high ; the loss of the beard 
being estimated at twenty shillings, while the breaking 
of a thigh was only fixed at twelve. In other cases 
also the effect on personal appearance seems to have 
carried great weight, for the loss of a front tooth was 
estimated at six shillings, while the fracture of a rib 
was only fixed at three. In the case of a slave, the 
fine was paid to the owner. 

The amount varied according to the rank of the 
person injured. All society below the royal family and 
the Ealdorman was divided into three classes ; the 
Tywhind man, or Ceorl, was estimated at 200 shillings 
according to the laws of Mercia ; the Sixhind man at 
600 shillings, while the death of a royal Thane was 
estimated at 1,200 shillings.-^ 

A similar system of fines was also provided for in 
ancient Roman law.^ 

In some cases the fine varied according' to aofe. Thus 
among the Goths the Wehrgeld gradually increased up 
to the age of fifty, after which it again diminished. It 
is a curious illustration of manners to find that women 
were valued at much less, and that in their case the 
price commenced to diminish after forty. The Siamese 
have a similar arrangement, but in their case the 
maximum is fixed at forty for a man, and thirty for 
a woman. 

In other cases the sum payable depends on the rank 
of the aggressor. These cases are of two classes, some- 
times, as under certain Mongol and Merovingian laws, 
the sum payable increases with the rank, obviously 

^ Hume, p. 74. Hallam, Cons. - Ortolan, Expl. Hist, des Inst. 

Hist, of England, vol. i. p. 272. de I'Emp. Justinien, p. 114, 

I I 



482 THE WEHBGELD 

because the fine is supposed to fall more heavily on the 
poor than on the rich. 

In some cases, however, the reverse is the case, be- 
cause it is supposed to be a greater offence to injure a 
superior than an inferior. 

In Ireland a composition or fine was admitted for 
murder ' instead of capital punishment ; and this was 
' divided, as in other countries, between the kindred of 
' the slain and the judge,' ^ down to a comparatively late 
period. 

Among the Kutchins of Yukon river (N. W. 
America) all crimes, even murder, may be compounded 
for ; and the same is the case among the Nootka Indians.^ 

Among the Hill tribes of North Aracan, ' all offences 
^ or injuries are remedied by fine,' the amount of which is 
fixed by long custom, and always rigorously demanded.^ 
The Karens permitted all offences against the person, 
however heinous, to be commutable by fine.* 

Among the Kirghiz the family of a murdered man 
are at liberty to compound with the murderer for a 
certain payment in horses, &c. A woman or a child 
count for half as much as a man. There is also a 
scale of compensation for injuries ; 100 sheep for a 
thumb, twenty for a little finger, and so on. ^ 

So also among the Kafiirs,^ ' as banishment, im- 
' prisonment, and corporal punishment are all unknown 
4n Kaffir jurisprudence, the property of the people 



^ Hallani, /oc. cit. vol. iii. pp. 341, Chersoneae, p. 84. 
357. ^ Des. de toutes les Nat. de 

^ Bancroft, loo. cit. pp. 130^ 194. TEmp. de Russie, part i. p. 148. 

^ St. John, Journ. Anthrop. In- ^ Kaffir Laws and Customs, 

stitute, 1872, p. 240. p. 36. 

* M'Mahon, Karens of the Golden 



THE WEHBGELD 483 

* constitutes the great fund out of which the debts of 
^justice are paid.' The fines, however, thus levied, 
were paid to the chiefs The principle is, that a 
man's goods are his own property, but his person is the 
property of the chief A man who is injured, there- 
fore, however severely, derives no benefit from the fine. 
Their proverb is, ' No man can eat his own blood.' 

In other cases when the idea was recognised that a 
crime and an injury were two essentially different things, 
we find that two fines were inflicted, as, for mstance, in 
ancient Wales, where the ' galanas ' went to the family 
as a compensation, and the ' saraad ' to the State. In 
some cases a galanas became due, in some a saraad ; 
while in others both were inflicted. 

What has been above said with reference to crime 
applies especially to men. Women stand often in a 
totally diff*erent position. Our own law recognises very 
proj)erly that a wife acting under the influence of her 
husband cannot justly be punished as if she were a free 
agent. But among various races, as we have seen, every 
woman is under the control of some man, if not of her 
husband, of the head of her family. Hence perhaps the 
uncomplimentary, and to our ears ambiguous, saying 
of the Bogos, that ^ a woman is a Hyaena.' ^ 

As regards personal injuries, we find the Lex talionis 
prevalent in a certain state of society all over the world. 
An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, undeniably 
constitutes a certain rough justice. 

The system of ' outlawing,' which also we find very 
general among mankind, is not only natural in the 
absence of prisons or of any eff'ective policy, but is 

1 Ibid. p. 35. 2 Munzinger, Sitten und Kecht der Bogos, S. 60, N. 117. 

I I 2 



484 th:e] wuhbgeld 

primarily, perhaps, due to the joint responsibility of the 
family or clan ; a responsibility from which, in the case 
of a dangerous member, they can only free themselves 
by some such process. 

As regards theft and robbery, we often find, as we 
should expect, that robbery from another family or clan 
is in some cases looked on not only as no fault, but even 
as a merit. In the old Chinese law there was a regular 
gradation of the fine imposed, decreasing as the rela- 
tionship of the thief to the person robbed diminished. 

Again, the theft is very difi'erently regarded accord- 
ing to the habits of the race. For instance, among a 
pastoral people, cattle-lifting was often regarded as es- 
pecially criminal ; while among agricultural races the 
robbery or injury of crops was punished with extra 
severity. 

Perjury we often find is among the lower races not 
a punishable ofi'ence. This at first sight remarkable 
fact arises no doubt from the consideration that it is a 
sin against the Gods, who are therefore left to avenge 
themselves. 

The severity of early codes, and the uniformity in 
the amounts of punishment which characterises them, 
is probably due to the same cause. An individual who 
felt himself aggrieved would not weigh very philoso- 
phically the amount of punishment which he was 
entitled to inflict ; and no doubt when in any com- 
munity some chief, in advance of his time, endeavoured 
to substitute public law for private vengeance, his 
object would be to induce those who had cause of com- 
plaint to apply to the law for redress, rather than to 
avenge themselves ; which of course would not be the 



GIJNEBAL CONCLUSION 485 

case if the penalty allotted by the law was much less 
than that which custom would allow them to inflict for 
themselves. 

Subsequently, when punishment was substituted 
for pecuniary compensation, the same rule was at first 
applied, and the distinction of intention was overlooked. 
Nay, so long had the importance of intention been 
disregarded, that although it is now recognised in our 
criminal courts, yet, as Mr. Bain points out,^ • a moral 
' stigma is still attached to intellectual error by many 
' people, and even by men of cultivation.' 

In this, as in so many of our other ideas and tastes, 
we are still influenced by the condition of our ancestors 
in bygone ages. What that condition was I have in 
this work attempted to indicate, believing as I do that 
the earlier mental stages through which the human race 
has passed are illustrated by the condition of existing, 
or recent, savages. The history of the human race has, 
I feel satisfied, on the whole been one of progress. I 
do not of course mean to say that every race is neces- 
sarily advancing : on the contrary, most of the lower 
ones are almost stationary, and there are. no doubt, 
cases in which nations have fallen back ; but it seems 
an almost invariable rule that such races are dying out, 
while those which are stationary in condition are sta- 
tionary in numbers also ; on the other hand, improving 
nations increase in numbers, so that they always en- 
croach on less progressive races. 

In conclusion, then, while I do not mean for a 
moment to deny that there are cases in which nations 
have retrograded, I regard these as exceptional instances. 

1 Mental and Moral Science, p. 718. 



486 GENERAL CONCLUSION 

The facts and arguments mentioned in this work afford, 
I think, strong grounds for the following conclusions, 
namely : — 

That existing savages are not the descendants of 
civilised ancestors. 

That the primitive condition of man was one of 
utter barbarism. 

That from this condition various races have inde- 
pendently raised themselves. 

These views follow, I think, from strictly scientific 
considerations. We shall not be the less inclined to 
adopt them on account of the cheering prospects which 
they hold out for the future. 

In the closing chapter of ' Prehistoric Times,' while 
fully admitting the charms of savage life, I have en- 
deavoured to point out the immense advantages which 
we enjoy. Here I will only add that if the past history 
of man has been one of deterioration, we have but a 
groundless expectation of future improvement : on the 
other hand, if the past has been one of progress, we 
may fairly hope that the future will be so too ; that the 
blessings of civilisation will not only be extended to 
other countries and to other nations, but that even in 
our own land they will be rendered more general and 
more equable ; so that we shall not see before us 
always, as now, countrymen of our own living, in our 
very midst, a life worse than that of a savage ; neither 
enjoying the rough advantages and real, though rude, 
pleasures of savage life, nor yet availing themselves of 
the far higher and more noble opportunities which lie 
within the reach of civilised Man. 



APPENDIX, 



ON THE PEIMITIYE CONDITION OF MAN. 

PART I. 

Being the Substance of a Paper read before the British 
Association at Dundee. 

SIDE by side with tlie different opinions as to the origin of 
man, there are two opposite views with reference to the 
primitive condition of the first men, of first beings worthy to 
be so called. Many writers have considered that man was at 
first a mere savage, and that the course of history has on the 
whole been a progress towards civilisation; though at times 
— and at some times for centuries— some races have been sta- 
tionary, or even have retrograded. Other authors, of no less 
eminence, have taken a diametrically opposite view. Accord- 
ing to them, man was, from the commencement, pretty much 
what he is at present ; if possible, even more ignorant of the arts 
and sciences than now, but with mental qualities not inferior to 
our own. Savages they consider to be the degenerate descend- 
ants of far superior ancestors. Of the recent supporters of this 
theory, the late Archbishop of Dublin was amongst the most 
eminent. 

Dr. Whately enunciates his opinions in the following 
words : ^ — 

'We have no reason to believe that any community ever 
' did or ever can emerge, unassisted by external helps, from a 
' state of utter barbarism unto anything that can be called 

' Whately's Political Economy, p. 68. 



488 DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING 

' civilisation.' ' Man has not emerged from tlie savage state ; the 
' progress of any community in civilisation, by its own internal 
' means, must always have begun from a condition removed from 
' that of complete barbarism, out of which it does not appear that 
' men ever did or can raise themselves.' 

Thus, he adds, 'the ancient Germans, who cultivated corn 
' — though their agriculture was probably in a very rude 
' state — who not only had numerous herds of cattle, but 
' employed the labour of brutes, and even made use of cavalry 
' in their wars . . . these cannot with propriety be reckoned 
' savages ; or if they are to be so called (for it is not worth 
* while to dispute about a word), then I would admit that, in 
' this sense, men may advance, and in fact have advanced, by 
' their own unassisted efforts, from the savage to the civilised 
^ state.' This limitation of the term ' savage ' to the very 
lowest representatives of the human race no doubt renders Dr. 
Whately's theory more tenable by increasing the difficulty of 
bringing forward conclusive evidence against it. The Arch- 
bishop, indeed, expresses himself throughout his argument as 
if it would be easy to produce the required evidence in opposi- 
tion to his theory, supposing that any race of savages ever had 
raised themselves to a state of civilisation. The manner, 
however, in which he has treated the case of the Mandans — a 
tribe of North American Indians — ^effectually disposes of this 
hypothesis. This unfortunate people is described as having 
been decidedly more civilised than those by which they were 
surrounded. Having, then, no neighbours more advanced than 
themselves, they were quoted as furnishing an instance of 
savages who had civilised themselves without external aid. In 
answer to this, Archbishop Whately asks — 

' 1st. How do we know that these Mandans were of the same 
' race as their neighbours ? ' 

' 2ndly. How do we know that theirs is not the original 
' level from which the other tribes have fallen ? ' 

' Srdly and lastly. Supposing that the Mandans did emerge 
' from the savage state, how do we know that this may not have 
' been through the aid of some strangers coming among them — 
' like the Manco-Oapac of Peru — from some more civilised 
^ country, perhaps long before the days of Columbus ? ' 



I 



CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE 489 

Supposing, however, for a moment, and for the sake of argu- 
ment, that the Mandans, or any other race, were originally 
savages and had civilised themselves, it would still be mani- 
festly — from the very nature or the case — impossible to bring 
forward the kind of evidence demanded by Dr. Whately. No 
doubt he ' may confidently affirm that we find no one recorded 
* instance of a tribe of savages, properly so styled, rising into 
' a civilised state without instruction and assistance from a 
' people already civilised.' Starting with the proviso that 
savages, properly so styled, are ignorant of letters, and laying 
it down as a condition that no civilised example should be 
placed before them, the existence of any such record is an im- 
possibility ; its very presence would destroy its value. In 
another passage. Archbishop Whately says, indeed, ' If man 
' generally, or some particular race, be capable of self-civilisa- 
' tion, in either case it may be expected that some record, or 
' tradition, or monument of the actual occurrence of such an 
' event should be found.' So far from this, the existence of 
any such record would, according to the very hypothesis itself, 
be impossible. Traditions are short-lived and untrustworthy. 
A ' monument ' which could prove the actual occurrence of a race 
capable of self-civilisation I confess myself unable to conceive. 
What kind of a monument would the Archbishop accept as proving 
that the people by whom it was made had been originally savages, 
that they had raised themselves, and had never been influenced 
by strangers of a superior race ? 

But, says Archbishop Wliately, ' We have accounts of 
' various savage tribes, in different parts of the globe, who 
' have been visited from time to time at considerable intervals, 
' but have had no settled intercourse with civilised people, and 
' who appear to continue, as far as can be ascertained, in the 
' same uncultivated condition ; ' and he adduces one case, that 
of the Xew Zealanders, who ' seem to have been in quite as 
' advanced a state when Tasman discovered the country in 
' 1642 as they were when Cook visited it one hundred and 
' twenty -seven years after.' We have been accustomed to see 
around us an improvement so rapid that we forget how short a 
period a century is in the history of the human race. Even 
taking the ordinary chronology, it is evident, that if in 6,000 



490 THE STATIONARY CONDITION OF SAVAGES 

years a given race lias only progressed from a state of utter 
savagery to the condition of the Australian, we could not 
expect to find much change in one more century. Many a 
fishing village, even on our own coast, is in very nearly the 
same condition as it was one hundred and twenty-seven years 
ago. Moreover, I might fairly answer that according to 
Whately's own definition of a savage state, the New Zealanders 
would certainly be excluded. They cultivated the ground, 
they had domestic animals, they constructed elaborate fortifi- 
cations and made excellent canoes, and were certainly not in a 
state of utter barbarism. Or I might argue that a short visit^ 
like that of Tasman, could give little insight into the true 
condition of a people. I am, however, the less disposed to 
question the statement made by Archbishop Whately, because 
the fact that many races are now practically stationary is, in 
reality, an argument against the theory of degradation, and 
not against that of progress. Civilised races are, I believe, 
the descendants of ancestors who were once in a state of bar- 
barism. On the contrary, argue our opponents, savages are 
the descendants of civilised nations, and have sunk to their 
present condition. But Archbishop Whately admits that the 
civilised races are still rising, while the savages are stationary ; 
and, oddly enough, seems to regard this as an argument in 
support of the very untenable proposition, that the difference 
between the two is due, not to the progress of the one set of 
races — a progress which everyone admits — but to the degrada- 
tion of those whom he himself maintains to be stationary. 
The delusion is natural, and like that which everyone must 
have sometimes experienced in looking out of a train in 
motion, when the woods and fields seem to be flying from us, 
whereas we know that in reality we are moving and they are 
stationary. 

But it is argued, ' If man, when first created, was' left, like 
' the brutes, to the unaided exercise of those natural powers of 
' body and mind which are common to the European and to 
' the New Hollander, how comes it that the European is not 
' now in the condition of the New Hollander ? ' The answer 
to this is, I think, the following : In the first place, Australia 
possesses neither cereals nor any animals which can be domes- 



NO EVIDENCE OF EARLIER CIVILISATION 491 

ticated with advantage ; and in the second, we find even in the 
same family — among children of the same parents — the most 
opposite dispositions ; in the same nation there are families of 
high character, and others in which every member is more or 
less criminal. But in this case, as in the last, the Archbishop's 
argument, if good at all, is good against his own view. It is 
like an Australian boomerang, which recoils upon its owner. 
The Archbishop believed in the unity of the human race, and 
argued that man was originally civilised (in a certain sense). 
' How comes it, then,' I might ask him, ' that the New 
' Hollander is not now in the condition of the European ? ' In 
another passage, Archbishop Whately quotes, with approba- 
tion, a passage from President Smith, of the College of New 
Jersey, who says that man, ' cast out an orphan of nature, 
' naked and helpless, into the savage forest, must have perished 
' before he could have learned how to supply his most imme- 
' diate and urgent wants. Supposing him to have been created, 
' or to have started into being one knows not how, in the full 
' strength of his bodily powers, how long must it have been 
' before he could have known the proper use of his limbs, or 
^ how to apply them to climb the tree ! ' &c. &c. Exactly the 
same, however, might be said of the gorilla or the chimpanzee, 
which certainly are not the degraded descendants of civilised 
ancestors. 

Having thus very briefly considered the arguments brought 
forward by Archbishop Whately, I will proceed to state, also 
very briefly, some facts which, I think, support the view here 
advocated. 

Firstly, I will endeavour to show that there are indications of 
progress even among savages. 

Secondly, that among the most civilised nations there are 
traces of original barbarism. 

The Archbishop supposes that men were, from the beginning, 
herdsmen and cultivators. We know, however, that the 
Australians, North and South Americans, and several other 
more or less savage races, living in countries eminently suited 
to our domestic animals and to the cultivation of cereals, were 
yet entirely ignorant both of the one and the other. It is, I 
think, improbable that any race of men who had once been 



492 EVIDENCE DERIVABLE FROM 

agriculturists and herdsmen should entirely abandon pursuits 
so easy and advantageous ; and it is still more likely tliat, if 
we accept Usher's very limited chronology, all tradition of 
such a change should be lost. Moreover, even if in the course 
of time the descendants of the present colonists in (say) America 
or Australia were to fall into such a state of barbarism, still 
herds of wild cattle, descended from those imported, would 
probably continue to live in those countries ; and even if these 
were exterminated, their skeletons would testify to their pre- 
vious existence ; whereas, we know that not a single bone of 
the ox or of the domestic sheep has been found either in 
Australia or in America. The same argument applies to the 
horse, since the fossil of South America did not belong to the 
same species as our domestic race. So, again, in the case of 
plants. We do not know that any of our cultivated cereals would 
survive in a wild state, though it is highly probable that, 
perhaps in a modified form, they would do so. But there 
are many other plants which follow in the train of man, and 
by which the botany of South America, Australia, and New 
Zealand has been almost as profoundly modified as their 
ethnology has been by the arrival of the white man. The 
Maoris have a melancholy proverb, that the Maoris disappear 
before the white man, just as the white man's rat destroys the 
native rat, the European fiy drives away the native fly, and 
the clover kills the New Zealand fern. 

A very interesting paper on this subject, by Dr. (now Sir 
J. D.) Hooker, whose authority no one will question, is contained 
in the ' Natural History Review ' for 1864 : ' In Australia and 
' New Zealand,' he says, ' for instance, the noisy train of English 
' emigration is not more surely doing its work than the stealthy 
' tide of English weeds, which are creeping over the surface of 
' the waste, cultivated, and virgin soil, in annually increasing 
' numbers of genera, species, and individuals. Apropos of 
' this subject, a correspondent, W. T. Locke Travers, Esq., 
'F.L.S., a most active New Zealand botanist, writing from 
' Canterbury, says, " You would be surprised at the rapid 
' " spread of European and foreign plants in this country. All 
' " along the sides of the main lines of road through the plains, 
' " a Polygonum (aviculare), called cow-grass, grows most 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND POTTERY 493 

^ " luxuriantly, the roots sometimes two feet in depth, and the 
' ^' plants spreading over an area from four to five feet in 
' " diameter. The dock (Uumex ohtusifolius or B. crispns) is 
' " to be found in every river-bed, extending into the valleys 
' " of the mountain rivers, until these become mere torrents. 
' " The sow-thistle is spread all over the country, growing 
' " luxuriantly nearly up to 6,000 feet. The watercress in- 
' '' creases in our still rivers to such an extent as to threaten 
' " to choke them altogether." ' The cardoon of the Argentine 
Eepublics is another remarkable instance of the same fact. 
We may therefore safely assume that if Australia, New 
Zealand, or South Ameri(?a had ever been peopled by a race 
of herdsmen and agriculturists, the fauna and flora of those 
countries would almost inevitably have given evidence of the 
fact, and differed much from the condition in which they were 
discovered. 

We may also assert, as a general proposition, that no 
weapons or implements of metal have ever been found in 
any country inhabited by savages wholly ignorant of metal- 
lurgy. A still stronger case is afforded by pottery. Pottery 
is very indestructible ; when used at all, it is always abundant, 
and it possesses two qualities — those, namely, of being easy to 
break and yet difficult to destroy, which render it very valuable 
in an archaeological point of view. Moreover, it is, in most 
cases, associated with burials. It is therefore a very signifi- 
cant fact, that no fragment of pottery has ever been found in 
Australia, New Zealand, or the Polynesian Islands. It seems 
to me extremely improbable that an art so easy and so useful 
should ever have been lost by any race of men. . Moreover, 
this argument applies to several other arts and instruments. I 
will mention only two, though several others might be brought 
forward. The art of spinning and the use of the bow are 
quite unknown to many races of savages, and yet would 
hardly be likely to have been abandoned when once known. 
The absence of architectural remains in these countiies is 
another argument. Archbishop Whately, indeed, claims this 
as telling in his favour ; but the absence of monuments in a 
country is surely indicative of barbarism, and not of civilisa- 
tion. 



494 INDIOATIONS OF PROGRESS AMONG SAVAGES 

The mental condition of savages also seems to me to speak 
strongly against the 'degrading' theory. Not only do the 
religions of the lower races appear to be indigenous, but, as 
already shown ^ — according to many trustworthy witnesses, 
merchants, philosophers, naval men, and missionaries alike — 
there are many races of men who are altogether destitute of a 
religion. The cases are, perhaps, less numerous than they are 
asserted to be ; but some of them rest on good evidence. Yet 
I feel it difficult to believe that any people who once possessed 
any belief which can fairly be called a religion would ever en- 
tirely lose it. Religion appeals so strongly to tbe hopes and 
fears of men, it takes so deep a hold on most minds, in its higher 
forms it is so great a consolation in times of sorrow and sick- 
ness, that I can hardly think any 'nation would ever abandon 
it altogether. Moreover, it produces a race of men who are 
interested in maintaining its influence and authority. If, there- 
fore, we find a race which is now practically without religion, I 
cannot but assume that it has always been so. 

The character of the religious belief of savage races, as I 
have elsewhere ^ attempted to show, points strongly to the same 
conclusion. I am glad to find that so acute a reasoner as Mr. 
Bagehot is satisfied by the evidence which has been brought 
forward on this point. ' Clearly,' he says,^ ' if all early men 
' unanimously, or even much the greater number of early men, 
' had a religion without omens, no religion, or scarcely a religion 
' anywhere in the world, could have come into existence with 
' omens.' 

It seems also impossible to understand how races which 
have retained the idea of a heaven should have lost that of a 
hell, supposing they had ever possessed one. 

I will now proceed to mention a few cases in which some 
improvement does appear to have taken place, though, as a 
general rule, it may be observed that the contact of two races 
tends to depress rather than to raise the lower one. According 
to Macgillivray, the Australians of Port Essington, who, like all 
their fellow-countrymen, had formerly bark-canoes only, have 
now completely abandoned them for others hollowed out of the 

1 A?ite, p. 207 ; and Prehistoric ^ jl^^^^ p. 375^ 

Times, 5th ed., p. 564. s Physics and Politics, p. 133. 



I 



SAVAGES NOT INCAPABLE OF CIVILISATION 495 

trunk of a tree, whicli tliey buy from the Malays. The in- 
habitants of the Andaman Islands have recently introduced out- 
riggers. The Bachapins, when visited by Burchell, had just 
commenced working iron. According to Burton, the Wajiji 
negroes have recently learned to make brass. In Tahiti, when 
visited by Captain Cook, the largest morai, or burial-place, 
was that erected for the then reigning queen. The Tahitians, 
also, had then very recently abandoned the habit of cannibalism. 

The natives of Celebes, whose bamboo houses are very liable 
to be blown down, have discovered that if they fix some crooked 
timbers in the sides of the house it> is less likely to fall. Ac- 
cordingly they chop ' the crookedest they can find, but they do 
' not know the rationale of the contrivance, and have not hit on 
' the idea that straight poles fixed slanting would have the same 
' effect in making the structure rigid.' ^ 

Farrer ^ mentions the following cases : 'The Comanche 
' Indians of Texas, among whom '' Christianity had never been 
' " introduced," abolished, in consequence of their intercourse 
' with tribes less savage than themselves, the inhuman custom of 
' killing a favourite wife at her husband's funeral. Mariner was 
' himself a witness of the abolition on the Tongan Islands of the 
' custom of strangling the wife of the great Tooitonga chief at 
'■ his death. 

' Bianswah, the great Chippewya chief, put a stop, by a treaty 
' of peace with the Sioux, to the horrible practice of burning 
' prisoners alive ; and, though the peace between the tribes was 
' often broken, their compact in this respect was never violated. 

' Thus the Nootka Indians, who used to conclude their hunt- 
' ing festivals with a human sacrifice, subsequently changed the 
' custom into the more lenient one of sticking a boy with knives 
' in various parts of his body. The Zulus abolished the custom 
' of killing slaves with a chief, to prepare food and other things for 
' him in the next world, so that now it is only a tradition with 
' them that formerly, when a chief died, he did not die alone.' 

' Wallace's Malay Archipelago, - Primitive Manners and Customs, 

quoted in Tylor's Primitive Culture, By T. A. Farrer, pp. 16 and 17. 
vol. i. p. 56. 



496 SAVAGES NOT INCAPABLE OF CIVILISATION 

Slia-gwaw-koo-sink, an Ottawwaw, who lived at the be- 
ginning of this century, first introduced the cultivation of corn 
among the OjibbewaysJ Moreover, there are certain facts which 
speak for themselves. Some of the American races cultivated the 
potato. Now, the potato is an American plant, and we have 
here, therefore, clear evidence of a step in advance made by these 
tribes. Again, the Peruvians had domesticated the llama. 
Those who believe in the diversity of species of men may argue 
that the Peruvians had domestic llamas from the beginning. 
Archbishop Whately, however, would not take this line. He 
would, I am sure, admit that the first settlers in Peru had no 
llamas, nor, indeed, any other domestic animal, excepting, pro- 
bably, the dog. The bark-cloth of the Polynesians is another 
case in point. Tylor says the present usage in Australia is 
considerably in advance of ancient rule.^ Another very strong 
case is the boomerang of the Australians. This weapon is 
known to no other race of men.^ We cannot look on it as a 
relic of primeval civilisation, or it would not now be confined to 
one race only. The Australians cannot have learnt it from any 
civilised visitors, for the same reason. It is, therefore, as it 
seems to me, exactly the case we want and a clear proof of a step 
in advance — a small one, indeed, but still a step made by a 
people whom Archbishop Whately would certainly admit to 
be true savages. The Cherokees afford a remarkable instance 
of progress, and indeed — alone among the North American 
hunting races — have really become agriculturists. As long ago 
as 1825, with a population of 14,000, they possessed 2,923 
ploughs, 7,683 horses, 22,500 black cattle, 46,700 pigs, and 
2,566 sheep. They had 49 mills, 69 blacksmiths* shops, 
762 looms, and 2,486 spinning-wheels. They kept slaves, 
having captured several hundred negroes in Carolina. Nay, one 

' Tanuer's Narrative, p. 180. weapon in the British Museum pos- 

2 Anthr. Journal, 8vo, p. 354. sessed all the properties of the Austra- 

* "With one doubtful exception. lian boomerang, returning when 

The ancient Egyptians used a curved thrown to within a few paces of the 

stick to throw at birds, 'but in no position from which it w^as thrown. 

' instance had it the round shape and This may be so, but we have no evidence 

' flight of the Australian boomerang.' whatever that it was actually so used. 

Wilkinsons Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. Lane Fox, Jour. Anthr. Inst., 1875, 

p. 235. Lane Fox, however, assures p. 415. 

us that a fac-simile of the Eg3'-ptian 



INDIGENOUS ORIGIN OF MEXICAN CIVILISATION 497 

of them, a man of the name of Sequoyah, invented a system of 
letters which, as far as the Cherokee language is concerned, is 
better than ours. Cherokee contains twelve consonants and 
five vowels, with a nasal sound ' ung.' Thus, combining each 
of the twelve consonants with each of the six vowels, and adding 
the vowels which occur singly, but omitting any sign for ' mung,' 
as that sound does not occur in Cherokee, he required seventy- 
seven characters, to which he added eight — representing the 
sounds s, ka, hna, nah, ta, te, ti, tla — making altogether eighty- 
five characters. The alphabet, as already mentioned, is superior 
to ours. The characters are indeed more numerous, but, when once 
learnt, the pupil can read at once. It is said that a boy can learn 
to read Cherokee, when thus expressed, in a few weeks ; while, 
if ordinary letters were used, two years would be required. Obvi- 
ously, however, thi& alphabet is not applicable to other languages. 
The rude substitutes for writing found among other tribes 
— the wampum of the North American Indians, the picture- 
writing and quippu of Central America — must also be regarded 
as of native origin. In the case of the system of letters 
invented by Mohammed Doalu, a negro of the Vei country, in 
West Africa, the idea was no doubt borrowed from the mission- 
aries, although it was worked out independently. In other 
cases, however, I think this cannot be. Take that of the 
Mexicans. Even if we suppose that they were descended from 
a primitively civilised race, and had gradually and completely 
lost both the use and tradition of letters — to my mind, a most 
improbable hypothesis — still we must look on their system of 
picture-writing as being of American origin. Even if a system 
of writing by letters could ever be altogether lost, which I 
doubt, it certainly would not be abandoned for that of picture- 
writing, which is inferior in every point of view. If the 
Mexicans had owed their civilisation, not to their own gradual 
improvement, but to the influence of some European visitors, 
driven by stress of weather or the pursuit of adventure on to their 
coasts, we should have found in their system of writing, and 
in other respects, unmistakable proofs of such an influence. 
Although, therefore, we have no historical proof that the 
civilisation of America was indigenous, we have in its very 
character evidence more satisfactory perhaps than any liistorical 

K K 



498 PBOGEJESS AS INDICATED BY LANGUAGE 

statements would be. The same argument may be derived 
from the names used for numbers by savages. I feel great 
difficulty in supposing that any race which had learned to count 
up to ten would ever unlearn a piece of knowledge so easy and 
yet so useful. Yet, as has already been pointed out, few, 
perhaps none, of those whom Archbishop Whately would call 
savages can count so far. 

In many cases, where the system of numeration is at present 
somewhat more advanced, it bears on it the stamp of native 
and recent origin. Among civilised nations the derivations of 
the numerals have long since been obscured by the gradual 
modification which time effects in all words — especially those in 
frequent use, and before the invention of printing. And if the 
numerals of savages were relics of a former civilisation, the waifs 
and strays saved out of the general wreck, they would certainly 
have suffered so much from the wear and tear of constant use, 
that their derivations would be obscured or wholly undiscoverable, 
instead of which they are often perfectly clear and obvious, espe- 
cially among races whose arithmetical attainments are lowest. 
These numerals, then, are recent, because they are uncorrupted ; 
and they are indigenous, because they have an evident meaning 
in the language of the tribes by whom they are used.^ 

Again, as I have already pointed out,^ many savage languages 
are entirely deficient in such words as ' color,' ' tone,' ' tree,' 
&c., having names for each kind of color, every species of tree, 
but not for the general idea. I can hardly imagine a nation 
losing such words if it had once possessed them. 

Other evidence to the same effect might be extracted from the 
language of savages ; and arguments of this nature are entitled 
to more weight than statements of travellers, as to the objects 
found in use among savages. Suppose, for instance, that an 
early traveller mentioned the absence of some art or knowledge 
among a race visited by him, and that later ones found the 
natives in possession of it. Most people would hesitate to 
receive this as a clear evidence of progress, and rather be 
disposed to suspect that later travellers, with perhaps better 
opportunities, had seen what their predecessors had overlooked. 

* See Chapter IX. This argument new words are coined from time to 
would be conclusive were it not that time in all lans-uaares. ^ c^, ix. 



TRACES OF BABBABISM IN CIVILISED GOUNTBIES 499 

This is no hypothetical case. The earl}- Spanish writers assert 
that the inhabitants of the Ladrone Islands were ignorant of the 
use of fire. Later travellers, on the contrary, find them per- 
fectly well acquainted with it. They have, therefore, almost 
unanimously assumed, not that the natives had made a step in 
advance, but that the Spaniards had made a mistake ; and I 
have not brought this case forward in opposition to the assertions 
of Whately, because I am inclined to be of this opinion myself. 
I refer to it here, however, as showing how difficult it would be 
to obtain in this manner satisfactory evidence of material pro- 
gress among savages, even admitting that such exists. The 
arguments derived from language, however, are liable to no such 
suspicions, but tell their own tale, and leave us at liberty to draw 
our own conclusions. 

I will now very briefly refer to certain considerations which 
seem to show that even the most civilised races were once in a 
state of barbarism. Not only throughout Europe — not only in 
Italy and Greece — but even in the so-called cradle of civilisa- 
tion itself, in Palestine and Syria, in Egypt and in India, the 
traces of a stone age have been discovered. It may indeed be 
said that these were only the fragments of those stone knives, 
&c., which we know were used in religious ceremonies long after 
metal was in general use for secular purposes. This, indeed, 
resembles the attempt to account for the presence of elephants' 
bones in England b}' supposing that they were the remains of 
elephants which might have been brought over by the Romans. 
But why were stone knives used by the Egyptian and Jewish 
priests ? Evidently because they had been at one time in general 
use, and a feeling of respect made the priest reluctant to 
introduce a new substance into religious ceremonies. 

There are, moreover, other considerations ; for instance, the 
gradual improvement in the relation between the sexes, and 
the development of correct ideas on the subject of relationship, 
seem to me strongly to point to the same conclusion. 

In the publication of the Nova Scotian ' Institute of Na- 
' tural Science ' is an interesting paper by Mr. Haliburton, on 
' The Unity of the Human Race, proved by the universality 
' of certain superstitions connected with sneezing.' ' Once 
' establish/ he says, ' that a large number of arbitrary customs 

kk2 



500 UNITY OF THE HUMAN BACE 

i — such as could not have naturally suggested themselves to 
' all men at all times — are universally observed, and we arrive 
' at the conclusion that they are primitive customs which have 
' been inherited from a common source, and, if inherited, that 
' they owe their origin to an era anterior to the dispersion of 
' the human race.' To justify such a conclusion, the custom 
must be demonstrably arbitrary. The belief that two and 
two make four, the decimal system of numeration, and similar 
coincidences, of course prove nothing ; but I very much doubt 
the existence of any universal, or even general, custom of a 
clearly arbitrary character. The fact is, that many things ap- 
pear to us arbitrary and strange because we live in a condition 
so different from that in which they originated. Many things 
seem natural to a savage which to us appear absurd and un- 
accountable. 

Mr. Haliburton brings forward, as his strongest case, the 
habit of saying ' God bless you ! ' or some equivalent expres- 
sion, when a person sneezes. He shows that this custom, 
which, I admit, appears to us at first sight both odd and arbi- 
trary, is ancient and widely extended. It is mentioned by 
Homer, Aristotle, Apuleius, Pliny, and the Jewish rabbis, and has 
been observed among the Negroes and Kaffirs ; in Koordistan, 
in Florida, in Otaheite, in New Zealand, and in the Tonga 
Islands. 

It is not arbitrary, however, and it does not, therefore, come 
under his rule. A belief in invisible beings is very general 
among savages ; and while they think it unnecessary to account 
for blessings, they attribute any misfortune to the ill will of 
these mysterious beings. Many savages regard disease as a 
case of possession. In cases of illness they do not suppose that 
the organs are themselves affected, but that they are being 
devoured by a god ; hence their medicine-men do not try to cure 
the disease, but to extract the demon. Some tribes have a 
distinct deity for every ailment. The Australians do not be- 
lieve in natural death. When a man dies they take it for 
granted that he has been destroyed by witchcraft, and the only 
doubt is, who is the culprit ? Now, a people in this state of 
mind — and we know that almost every race of men is passing, 
or has passed, through this stage of development — seeing a 



I 



MENTAL DIFFERENCES IN DIFFERENT RACES 501 

man sneeze would naturally, and almost inevitably, suppose 
that he was attacked and shaken by some invisible beino- ; 
equally natural is the impulse to appeal for aid to some other 
invisible being more powerful than the first. ^ 

Mr. Haliburton admits that a sneeze is ' an omen of impending 
' evil ; ' but it is more — it is evidence, which to the savage mind 
would seem conclusive, that the sneezer was possessed by some 
evil-disposed spirit ; evidently, therefore, this case, on which 
Mr. Haliburton so much relies, is by no means an ' arbitrary 
' custom,' and does not, therefore, fulfil the conditions which he 
himself laid down. He has incidentally brought forward some 
other instances, most of which labour under the disadvantage 
of proving too much. Thus, he instances the existence of a 
festival in honour of the dead, ' at or near the beginning of 
' November.' Such a feast is very general ; and, as there are 
many more races holding such a festival than there are months 
in the year, it is evident that, in several cases, they must be 
held together. But Mr. Haliburton goes on to say : ' The 
^ Spaniards were very naturally surprised at finding that, while 
' they were celebrating a solemn mass for All Souls on 
' November 22, the heathen Peruvians were also holding their 
' annual commemoration of the dead.' This curious coinci- 
dence would, however, not only prove the existence of such a 
festival, as he says, ' before the dispersion ' (which Mr. Hali- 
burton evidently looks on as a definite event rather than as a 
gradual j)rocess), but also that the ancestors of the Peruvians 
were at that epoch sufficiently advanced to form a calendar, and 
that their descendants were able to keep it unchanged down to 
the present time. This, however, we know was not the case. 
Again, Mr. Haliburton says : ' The belief in Scotland and 
' equatorial Africa is found to be almost precisely identical re- 
' specting there being ghosts, even of the living, who are ex- 
' ceedingly troublesome and pugnacious, and can be sometimes 
' killed by a silver bullet.' Here we certainly have what seems 
at first sight to be an arbitrary belief; but if it proves that 
there was a belief in ghosts before the dispersion, it would also 
prove that silver bullets were then in use. This illustration is, 

• I am glad to see that Mr. Herbert Principles of Sociology, p. 245. 
Spencer agrees with me in this. See 



502 SIMILAR IDEAS IN DIFFERENT RACES 

I think, a very interesting one ; because it shows that similar 
ideas in distant countries owe their origin, not ' to an era before 
' the dispersion of the human race,' but to the fandamental simi- 
larity of the human mind. While I do not believe that similar 
customs in different nations are 'inherited from a common source,' 
or are necessarily primitive, I certainly do see in them an argu- 
ment for the unity of the human race, which, however (be it re- 
marked), is not necessarily the same thing as the descent from 
a single pair. 

On the other hand, I have attempted to show that ideas 
which might at first sight appear arbitrary and unaccountable, 
arise naturally in very distinct nations as they arrive at a similar 
stage of progress ; and it is necessary, therefore, to be extremely 
cautious in using such customs or ideas as implying any special 
connection between different races of men. 



PAUT II. 1 

At the Dundee meeting of the British Association I had the 
honour of reading a paper ' On the Origin of Civilisation and 
' the Primitive Condition of Man,' in answer to certain opinions 
and arguments brought forward by the late Archbishop of 
Dublin. The views therein advocated met with little opposition 
at the time. The then Presidents of the Ethnological and 
Anthropological Societies both expressed their concurrence in 
the conclusions at which I arrived ; and the Memoir was 
printed m extenso by the Association. It has, however, subse- 
quently been attacked at some length by the Duke of Argyll ; ^ 
and as the Duke has in some cases strangely misunderstood me, 
and in others (I am sure unintentionally) misrepresented my 
views — as, moreover, the subject is one of great interest and 
importance, I am anxious to make some remarks in reply to 
his Grace's criticisms. The Duke has divided his work into four 
chapters : I. Introduction ; II. The Origin of Man ; III. and 
IV. His Primitive Condition. 

' The substance of this was read * Good Words : March, April, May 

before the British Association during and June, 1868. Also since repub- 
their meeting at Exeter in 1869. lished in a separate form. 



BIMANA AND QUADEU2IANA 503 

I did not, in my first Memoir, nor do I now, propose to 
discuss tlie subjects dealt with in the first half of the Duke's 
' Speculations.' I will only observe that in attacking Professor 
Huxley for proposing to unite the Bimana and Quadrumana 
in one Order .^ ' Primates,' the Duke uses a dangerous argument ; 
for if, on account of his great mental superiority over the 
Quadrumana, Man forms an Order or even Class by himself, 
it will be impossible any longer to regard all men as belonging 
to one species or even genus. The Duke is in error when he 
supposes that ' mental powers and instincts ' afford tests 
of easy application in other parts of the animal kingdom. On 
the contrary, genera with the most different mental powers 
and instincts are placed, not only in the same order, but even 
in the same family. Thus our most learned hymenopterologist 
(Mr. Frederick Smith) classes the Hive-bee, the Humble-bee, 
and the parasitic Apathus in the same sub-family of Apidae. 
It seems to me, therefore, illogical to separate man zoologically 
from the other primates on the ground of his mental superiority, 
and yet to maintain the specific unity of the human race, not- 
withstanding the mental differences between different races of 
men. 

I do not, however, propose to discuss the origin of man, 
and pass on therefore at once to the Duke's third chapter ; and 
here I congratulate myself at the outset that the result of my 
paper has been to satisfy him that Whately's argument,' 
' though strong at some points, is at others open to assault, and 
' that as a whole, the subject now requires to be differently 
' handled, and regarded from a different point of view.' ' I do 
' not, therefore,' he adds in a subsequent page,^ ' agree with 
' the late Archbishop of Dublin, that we are entitled to assume 
'it is a fact that, as regards the mechanical arts, no savage 
' race has ever raised itself.' And again : ^ ' The aid which 
' man had from his Creator may possibly have been nothing 
' more than the aid of a body and of a mind, so marvellously 
' endowed that thought was an instinct and contrivance a 
' necessity.' 

I feel, how-ever, less satisfaction on this account than would 

• Good Words, June, 1868, p. loG. ^ Ibid. p. 386. ^ P. 392. 



504 THE WEAPONS OF MONKEYS 

otherwise have been the case, because it seems to me that though 
the Duke acknowledges the Archbishop's argument to be un- 
tenable, he practically reproduces it with but a slight altera- 
tion and somewhat protected by obscurity. What Whately 
called ' instruction ' the Duke terms ' instinct ; ' and he considers 
that man had instincts which afforded all that was necessary 
as a starting ground. He admits, however, that monkeys use 
stones to break nuts ; he might have added that they throw 
sticks and stones at intruders. But he says, ' Between these 
' rudiments of intellectual perception and the next step (that 
' of adapting and fashioning an instrument for a particular 
' purpose) there is a gulf in which lies the whole immeasurable 
' distance between man and brutes.' I cannot agree with the 
Duke in this opinion ; nor indeed does he agree with himself, for 
he adds in the very same page that — ' The wielding of a stick is, 
, in all probability, an act equally of primitive intuition, and from 
' this to throwing of a stick and the use of javelins is an easy and 
' natural transition.' 

He continues as follows : ' Simple as these acts are, they 
' involve both physical and mental powers which are capable of 
' all the developments which we see in the most advanced in- 
' dustrial arts. These acts involve the instinctive idea of the 
' constancy of natural causes and the capacity of thought, which 
' gives men the conviction that what has happened under given 
' conditions will, under the same conditions, always occur again.' 
On these, he says, ' as well as on other grounds, I have never 
' attached much importance to Whately's argument.' These are 
indeed important admissions, and amount to a virtual abandon- 
ment of Whately's position. 

The Duke blames the Archbishop of Dublin for not having 
defined the terms ' civilisation ' and ' barbarism.' It seems to me 
that Whately illustrated his meaning better by examples than 
he could have done by any definition. The Duke does not seem 
to have felt any practical difficulty from the omission ; and it is 
remarkable that, after all, he himself omits to define the terms, 
thus himself making the very omission for which he blames 
Whately. He perhaps found it impossible in a few words to 
define the complex organisation which we call civilisation, or to 
state in a few words how a civilised differs from a barbarous 



TB,UE NATURE OF BARBARISM 505 

people. Indeed, to define civilisation as it should be is surely 
as yet impossible, since we are far from having solved the problem 
how we may best avail ourselves of our opportunities, and enjoy 
the beautiful world in which we live. 

As regards barbarism, the Duke observes, ' All I desire to 
' point out here is, that there is no necessary connection 
' between a state of mere childhood in respect to knowledge 
' and a state of utter barbarism, words which, if they have any 
' definite meaning at all, imply the lowest moral as well as the 
' lowest intellectual condition.' To every proposition in this 
remarkable sentence I entirely demur. There is, I think, a 
very intimate connection between knowledge and civilisation. 
Knowledge and barbarism cannot coexist — knowledge and civi- 
lisation are inseparable. 

Again, the words ' utter barbarism ' have certainly a very 
definite signification, but as certainly, I think, not that which 
the Duke attributes to them. The lowest moral and the 
lowest intellectual condition are not only, in my opinion, not 
inseparable, they are not even compatible. Morality implies 
responsibility, and consequently intelligence. The lower animals 
are neither moral nor immoral. The lower races of men may 
be, and are, vicious ; but allowances must be made for them. 
On the contrary (corruptio optimi, pessima est), the higher the 
mental power, the more splendid the intellectual endowment, 
the deeper is the moral degradation of him who wastes the one 
and abuses the other. 

On the whole, the fair inference seems to be that savages are 
more innocent, and yet more criminal, than civilised races ; 
they are by no means in the lowest possible moral condition, 
nor are they capable of the higher virtues. 

In the first part of this paper I laid much stress on the fact 
that even in the most civilised nations we find traces of early 
barbarism. The Duke maintains, on the contrary, that these 
traces afford no proof, or even presumption, that barbarism was 
the primeval condition of man. He urges that all such customs 
may have been, not primeval, but medieval ; and he continues : 
' Yet this assumption runs through all Sir J. Lubbock's argu- 
'ments. Wherever a brutal or savage custom prevails it is 
'regarded as a sample of the original condition of mankind. 



506 SEQUENCE OF CUSTOMS 

' And this in the teeth of facts which prove that many of such 
'customs not only may have been, but must have been, the 
' result of corruption.' 

Fortunately, it is unnecessary for me to defend myself 
against this criticism, because in the very next sentence the 
Duke directly contradicts himself, and shows that I have not 
done that of which he accuses me. He continues his argument 
thus : ' Take cannibalism as one of these. Sir J. Lubbock 
' seems to admit that this loathsome practice was not primeval.' 
Thus by way of proof that I regard all brutal customs as 
primeval, he states, and correctly states, that I do not regard 
cannibalism as primeval. It would be difficult, I think, to find 
a more curious case of self-contradiction. 

The Duke refers particularly to the practice of Bride- 
catching, which he states ' cannot possibly have been primeval.' 
He omits, however, to explain why, from his point of view, it 
could not have been so ; and of course, assuming the word 
' primeval ' to cover a period of some length, it would have 
been interesting to know his reasons for this conclusion ; in fact, 
however, it is not a case in point, because, as I have attempted 
to show, marriage by capture was preceded by a custom still 
more barbarous. It may, perhaps, however, be as well to state 
emphatically that all brutal customs are not, in my opinion, 
primeval. Human sacrifices, for instance, were, I think, 
certainly not so. 

My argument, however, was that there is a definite sequence 
of habits and ideas; that certain customs (some brutal, others 
not so) which we find lingering on in civilised communities 
are a page of past history, and tell a tale of former barbarism ; 
rather on account of their simplicity than of their brutality, 
though many of them are brutal enough. Again, no one 
would go back from letter-writing to the use of the quippu or 
hieroglyphics ; nor would abandon the fire-drill and obtain fire 
by hand-friction. 

Believing, as he does, that the primitive condition of man 
was one of civilisation, the Duke accounts for the existence of 
savages by the remark that they are ' mere outcasts of the 
' human race,' descendants of weak tribes which were ' driven 
' to the woods and rocks.' But until the historical period these 



I 



THE DIFFUSION OF MANKIND 507 

' mere outcasts ' occuiDied almost the whole of North and South 
America, all Northern Europe, the greater part of Africa, the 
great continent of Australia, a large part of Asia, and the 
beautiful islands of the Pacific, Moreover, until modified by 
man, the gTeat continents were either in the condition of open 
plains, such as heaths, downs, prairies, and tundras, or they 
were mere ' woods and rocks.' Now, everything tends to show 
that mere woods and rocks exercised on the whole a favourable 
influence. Inhabitants of great plains rarely rose beyond the 
pastoral stage. In America the most advanced civilisation was 
attained, not by the occupants of the fertile valleys, not along 
the banks of the Mississippi or the Amazon, but among the 
rocks and woods of Mexico and Peru. Scotland itself is a 
brilliant proof that woods and rocks are compatible with a high 
state of civilisation. 

My idea of the manner in which, and the causes owing to 
which, man spread over the earth, is very different from that 
of the Duke. He evidently supposes that new countries have 
been occupied by weak races, driven there by more powerful 
tribes. This I believe to be an entirely erroneous notion. Take, 
for instance, our own island. We are sometimes told that the 
Celts were driven by the Saxons into Wales and Cornwall. On 
the contrary, however, we know that Wales and Cornwall were 
both occupied long before the Saxons landed on our shores. 
Even as regards the rest of the country, it would not be correct 
to say that the Celts were driven away ; they were either destroyed 
or absorbed. 

The gradual extension of the human race has not, in my 
opinion, been effected by force acting on any given race from 
without, but by internal necessity and the pressure of population ; 
by peaceful, not by hostile force ; by prosperity, not by misfortune, 
I believe that of old, as now, founders of new colonies were men 
of energy and enterprise, animated by hope and courage, not by 
fear and despair ; that they were, in short, anything but mere 
outcasts of the human race. 

The Duke relies a good deal on the case of America. ' Is 
* it not true,' he asks, ' that the lowest and rudest tribes in the 
' population of the globe have been found in the furthest ex- 
' tremities of its great continents, and in the distant islands. 



508 THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS 

' which would be the last refuge of the victims of violence and 
' misfortune ? '' The new world " is the continent which 
' presents the most uninterrupted stretch of habitable land 
' from the highest northern to the lowest southern latitude. 
' On the extreme north we have the Esquimaux, or Inuit race, 
^ maintaining human life under conditions of extremest hard- 
' ship even amid the perpetual ice of the Polar seas. And 
' what a life it is ! Watching at the blow-hole of a seal for 
' many hours, in a temperature of 75° below freezing point, is 
' the constant work of the Inuit hunter. And when at last 
' his prey is struck, it is his luxury to feast upon the raw blood 
' and blubber. To civilised man it is hardly possible to con- 
' ceive a life so wretched, and in many respects so brutal, as 
' the life led by this race during the long-lasting night of the 
' Arctic winter.' 

To this question I confidently reply. No, it is not true ; it is 
not true as a general proposition that the lowest races are 
found furthest from the centres of continents ; it is not true 
in the particular case of America. The natives of Brazil, 
possessing a country of almost unrivalled fertility, surrounded 
by the most luxuriant vegetation, watered by magnificent 
rivers, and abounding in animal life, were yet unquestionably 
lower than the Esquimaux,^ whom the Duke pities and 
despises so much. ^ He pities them, indeed, more than I think 
the case requires. Our own sportsmen willingly undergo great 
hardships in pursuit of game ; and hunting in earnest must pos- 
sess a keen zest which it can never attain when it is a mere sport. 

' When we rise,' says Mr. Hill,^ ' twice or thrice a day 
' from a full meal, we cannot be in a right frame either of body 
' or mind for the proper enjoyments of the chase. Our slug- 
' gish spirits then want the true incentive to action, which 
' should be hunger, with the hope before us of filling a craving 

^ See Martius, p. 77. Dr. Eae ^ When the Duke states that 
ranks the Esquimaux above the Eed ' neither an agricultural nor pastoral 
Indians. Trans. Ethn. Soc, 1866. ' life is possible on the borders of a 
Martius was himself at one time of ' frozen sea,' he forgets for the mo- 
opinion that the Brazilians were de- ment the inhabitants of Lapland and 
generate,but his investigations finally of Siberia. 

led him to the opposite conclusion. ^ Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. p. 28. 

See Nature, 1874, pp. 146, 204. 



THI^ INFLUENCE OF EXTEB.NAL CONDITIONS 509 

' stomacli. I could remember once before being for a long 
' time dependent upon the gun for food, and feeling a touch of 

* the charm of a savage life (for every condition of humanity 

* has its good as well as its evil), but never till now did I fully 
' comprehend the attachment of the sensitive, not drowsy, 
' Indian.' 

Esquimaux life, indeed, as painted by our Arctic voyagers 
is by no means so miserable as the Duke supposes. Captain 
Parry, for instance, gives the following picture of an Esquimaux 
hut : ' In the few opportunities we had in putting their hospi- 
' tality to the test, we had every reason to be pleased with 
' them. Both as to food and accommodation, the best they had 
' were always at our service ; and their attention, both in kind 

* and degree, was everything that hospitality and even good 

* breeding could dictate. The kindly offices of drying and 
' mending our clothes, cooking our provisions and thawing 
' snow for our drink, were performed by the women with an 
' obliging cheerfulness which we shall not easily forget, and 
' which demanded its due share of our admiration and esteem. 
' While thus their guest I have passed an evening not only with 
' comfort but with extreme gratification ; for with the women 
' working and singing, their husbands quietly mending their 
^ lines, the children playing before the door, and the pot boiling 
' over the blaze of a cheerful lamp, one might well forget for 
' the time that an Esquimaux hut was the scene of this do- 
' mestic comfort and tranquillity ; and I can safely affirm with 
' Cartwright that, while thus lodged beneath their roof, I know 
' no people whom I would more confidently trust, as respects 
' either my person or my property, than the Esquimaux.' Dr. 
Eae,^ who had ample means of judging, tells us that the 
Eastern Esquimaux ' are sober, steady, and faithful. . . . 
' Provident to their own property, and careful of that of others 
' when under their charge. . . . Socially they are a lively, 
' cheerful, and chatty people, fond of associating with each 
' other and with strangers, with whom they soon become on 
' friendly terms, if kindly treated. ... In their domestic 
' relations they are exemplary. The man is an obedient son, 
' a good husband, and a kind father. . . . The children 

> Trans. Ethn. 8oc., 1866, p. 138. 



510 TEE ESQUIMAUX 

' when young are docile. . . . The girls have their dolls, 
' in making dresses and shoes for which they amuse and employ 
' themselves. The boys have miniature bows, arrows, and 
' spears. . . . When grown up they are dutiful to their 
' parents. ... Orphan children are readily adopted and 
' well cared for until they are able to provide for themselves.' 
He concludes by saying, ' the more I saw of the Esquimaux 
' the higher was the opinion I formed of them." 

Again, Hooper^ thus describes a visit to an Asiatic Esqui- 
maux belonging to the Tuski race : ' Upon reaching Mooldoo- 
yah's habitation, we found Captain Moore installed at his 
ease, with every provision made for comfort and convenience. 
Water and venison were suspended over the lamps in prepa- 
ration for dinner ; skins nicely arranged for couches, and the 
hangings raised to admit the cool air ; our baggage was bestowed 
around us with care and in quiet, and we were free to take our 
own way of enjoying such unobtrusive hospitality without a 
crowd of eager gazers watching us like lions at feed ; nor were 
we troubled by importunate begging such as detracted from the 
dignity of Metra's station, which was undoubtedly high in the 
tribe.' 

I know no sufficient reason for supposing that the Esqui- 
maux were ever more advanced than they are now. The Duke, 
indeed, considers that before they were ' driven by wars and 
* migrations ' (a somewhat cuiious expression) they ' may have 
' been nomads living on their flocks and herds ; ' and he states 
broadly that ' the rigours of the region they now inhabit have 
' reduced these people to the condition in which we now see 
' them ; ' a conclusion for which I know no reason, particularly 
as the Tinne and other Indians living to the south of the Esq>ii- 
maux are ruder and more barbarous. 

It is my belief that the great continents were already occu- 
pied by a widespread though sparse population when man was 
no more advanced than the lowest savages of to-day ; and 
although I am far from believing that the various degrees of 
civilisation which now occur can be altogether accounted for by 
the external circumstances as they at present exist, still these 
circumstances seem to me to throw much light on the very 
1 The Tents of the Tuski, p. 102. 



ORIGINAL AND UNIVERSAL BARBARISM 511 

different amount of progress which has been attained by different 
races. 

In referring to the backwardness of the aboriginal Austra- 
lians, I had observed that New Holland contained ' neither 
'cereals nor any animals which could be domesticated with 
' advantage ; ' upon which the Duke remarks that ' Sir John 
' Lubbock urges in reply to Whately that the low condition of 
' Australian savages affords no proof whatever that they could 
' not raise themselves, because the materials of improvement 
' are wanting in that country, which affords no cereals nor 
'animals capable of useful domestication. But Sir J. Lubbock 
' does not perceive that the same argument which shows how 
' improvement could not possibly be attained, shows also how 
' degradation could not possibly be avoided. If with the few 
' resources of the country it was impossible for savages to rise, 
' it follows that with those same resources it would be impossible 
' for a half-civilised race not to fall. And as in this case again, 
' unless we are to suppose a separate Adam and Eve for Van 
' Diemen's Land, its natives must originally have come from 
' countries where both corn and cattle were to be had ; it 
' follows that the low condition of these natives is much more 
' likely to have been the result of degradation than of primeval 
' barbarism.' 

But my argument was that a half- civilised race would have 
brought other resources with them. The dog was, I think, 
certainly introduced into that country by man, who would 
probably have brought with him other domestic animals also if 
he had possessed any. The same argument applies to plants ; 
the Polynesians carried the sweet potato and the yam, as well 
as the dog, with them from island to island; and even if the. 
first settlers in Australia happened to have been without them, 
and without the means of acquiring them, they would certainly 
have found some native plants which would have been worth 
the trouble of cultivation, if they had already attained to the 
agricultural stage. 

This argument applies with even more force to pottery; if 
the first settlers in Australia were acquainted with this art, I 
can see no reason why they should suddenly and completely 
have lost it. 



512 SUPPOSED INEVITABILITY OF DEGRADATION 

The Duke, indeed, seems to maintain that the natives of Van 
Diemen's Land (whom he appears to regard as belonging to the 
same race as the Australians and Polynesians, from both of which 
races, however, they are entirely distinct) ' must have originally 
' come from countries where both corn and cattle were to be 
' had ; ' still ' degradation could not possibly be avoided.' This 
seems to be the natural inference from the Duke's language, 
and suggests a very gloomy future for our Australian fellow- 
countrymen. The position is, however, so manifestly unten- 
able, when once put into plain language, that I think it 
unnecessary to dwell longer on this part of the subject. Even 
the Duke himself will hardly maintain that our colonists must 
fall back because the natives did not improve. Yet he extends 
and generalises this argument in a subsequent paragraph, 
saying, ' There is hardly a single fact qnoted by Sir J. Lubbock 
' in favour of his own theory which, when viewed in connection 
' with the same indisputable principles, does not tell against 
^that theory rather than in its favour.' So far from being 
' indisputable,' the principle that when savages remained 
savages, civilised settlers must descend to the same level, 
appears to me entirely erroneous. On reading the above passage, 
however, I passed on with much interest to see which of my 
facts I had so strangely misread. 

The great majority of facts connected with savage life have 
no perceptible bearing on the question, and I must therefore 
have been not only very stupid, but also singularly unfortu- 
nate, if of all those quoted by me in support of my argument 
^ there was hardly a single one ' which, read aright, was not 
merely irrelevant, but actually told against me. In support of 
his statement the Duke gives three illustrations, but it is 
remarkable that not one of these three cases was referred to 
by me in the present discussion, or in favour of the theory 
now under discussion. If all the facts on which I relied told 
against me, it is curious that the Duke should not give 
an instance. The three illustrations which he quotes from 
my ' Prehistoric Times ' seem to me irrelevant ; but, as the 
Duke thinks otherwise, it will be worth while to see how he 
uses them, and to inquire whether they give any real sup- 



SUPPOSED EVIDENCE OF DEGRADATION -513 

port to his argument. As already mentioned, the}' are three in 
number. 

' Sir J. Lubbock.' he says, ' reminds us that in a cave on 
' the north-west coast (of Australia) tolerable figures of sharks, 
' porpoises, turtles, lizards, canoes, and some quadrupeds, &c., 
' were found, and yet that the present natives of the country 
' where they were found were utterly incapable of realising 
' the most artistic vivid representations, and ascribe the 
' drawings in the cave to diabolical agency.' This proves 
nothing, because the Australian tribes differ much in their 
artistic condition ; some of them still make rude drawings like 
those above described. 

Secondly, he says, ' Sir J. Lubbock quotes the testimony 
*' of Cook, in respect to the Tasmanians, that they had no 
' canoes. Yet their ancestors could not have reached the island 
' by walking on the sea.' This argument would equally prove 
that the Kangaroo and the Echidna must have had civilised 
ancestors ; they inhabit both Australia and Tasmania, and it 
would have been impossible for their ancestors to have passed 
from the one to the other ' by walking on the sea.' The Duke, 
though admitting the antiquity of man, does not, I think, appre- 
ciate the geological changes which have taken place during the 
human period. 

The only other case which he quotes is that of the highland 
Esquimaux, who had no weapons nor any idea of war. The 
Duke's comment is as follows: 'No wonder, poor people! 
' They had been driven into regions where no stronger race 
' could desire to follow them. But that the fathers had once 
' known what war and violence meant there is no more con- 
^ elusive proof than the dwelling-place of their children.' It 
is perhaps natural that the head of a great Highland Clan 
should regard with pity a people who, having 'once known 
' what war and violence meant,' have no longer any neighbours 
to pillage or to fight ; but a Lowlander can hardly be expected 
seriously to regard such a change as one calculated to excite 
pity, or as any evidence of degradation. 

In my first paper I deduced an argument from the condition 
of religion among the different races of man, a part of the 
subject which has since been admirably dealt with by Mr. 

L L 



514 THE SURVIVAL OF CUSTOMS 

Tylor in a lecture at the Royal Institution. The use of flint 
for sacrificial purposes long after the introduction of metal 
seemed to me a good case of what Mr. Tylor has happily called 
' Survival.' So also is the method of obtaining fire. The 
Brahman will not use ordinary fire for sacred purposes: he 
does not even obtain a fresh spark from flint and steel, but 
reverts to, or rather continues, the old way of obtaining it, by 
friction with a wooden drill, one Brahman pulling the thong 
backwards and forwards while the other watches to catch the 
sacred spark. 

I also referred to the non-existence of religion among 
certain savage races, and, as the Duke correctly observes, I 
argued that this was probably their primitive condition, because 
it is difiicult to believe that a people which had once possessed 
a religion would ever entirely lose it.^ 

This argument filled the Duke with ' astonishment.' Surely, 
he says, 'if there is one fact more certain than another in 
' respect to the nature of man, it is that he is ca23able of losing 
' religious knowledge, of ceasing to believe in religious truth, 
* and of falling away from religious duty. If by "religion" 
' is meant the existence merely of some impressions of powers 
' invisible and supernatural, even this, we know, can not only 
' be lost, but be scornfully disavowed by men who are highly 
' civilised.' Yet in the very same page the Duke goes on to 
say, ' The most cruel and savage customs in the world are 
' the direct effect of its " religions." And if men could drop 
' religions when they would, or if they could even form the wish 
' to get rid of those which sit like a nightmare on their life, 
' there would be many more nations without a " religion " 
' than there are found to be. But religions can neither be put 
' on nor cast off" like garments, according to their utility, or 
' according to their beauty, or according to their power of com- 
'■ forting.' 

With this I entirely agree. Man can no more voluntarily 
abandon or change the articles of his religious creed than he 
can make one hair black or white, or add one cubit to his sta- 
ture. I do not deny that there may be exceptional cases of 

^ It is surely unnecessary to ex- the possibility of a change in, but a 
plain that I did not intend to question total loss of, religion. 



PBOGBUSS OF BELIGIOUS IDEAS 515 

intellectual men entirely devoid of religion ; but if the Duke 
means to say tliat men who are highly civilised habitually or 
frequently lose and scornfully disavow religion, I can only say 
that I should adopt such an opinion with difficulty and regret. 
There is, so far as I know, no evidence on record which would 
justify such an opinion, and, as far as my private experience 
goes, I at least have met with no such tendency. It is, indeed 
true that from the times of Socrates downwards men in ad- 
vance of their age have disavowed particular dogmas and par- 
ticular myths ; but the Duke of Argyll would, I am sure, not 
confuse a desire for reformation with the scornful disavowal of 
religion as a whole. Some philosophers may object to prayers 
for rain, but they are foremost in denouncing the folly of witch- 
craft ; they may regard matter as aboriginal, but they would 
never suppose with.' the Redskin that land was created while 
water existed from the beginning ; nor does any one now be- 
lieve with the South Sea Islanders that the Peerage are im- 
mortal, but that commoners have no souls. If, indeed, there 
is ' one fact more certain than another in respect to the nature 
' of man,' I should have considered it to be the gradual diffusion 
of religious light, and of nobler conceptions as to the nature of 
God. 

The lowest savages have no idea of a deity at all. Those 
slightly more advanced regard him as an enemy to be dreaded, 
but who may be resisted with a fair prospect of success, who 
may be cheated by the cunning and defied by the strong. Thus 
the natives of the Mcobar Islands endeavour to terrify their 
deity by scarecrows, and the negro beats his Fetich if his 
prayers are not granted. As tribes advance in civilisation 
their deities advance in dignity, but their power is still 
limited; one governs the sea, another the land; one reigns 
over the plains, another among the mountains. The most 
powerful are vindictive, cruel, and unjust. They require 
humiliating ceremonies and bloody sacrifices. Bat few races 
have arrived at the conception of an omnipotent and benefi- 
cent Deity. 

One of the lowest forms of religion is that presented by the 
Australians, which consists of a mere unreasoning belief in the 
existence of mysterious beings. The native who has in his 

L l2 



516 FETIGHISM 

sleep a nightmare or a dream does not doubt tlie reality of 
that which passes ; and as the beings by whom he is visited in 
his sleep are unseen by his friends and relations, he regards 
them as invisible. 

In Fetichism this feeling is more methodised. The negro, by 
means of witchcraft, endeavours to make a slave of his deity. 
Thus Fetichism is almost the opposite of Religion ; it stands 
towards it in the same relation as Alchemy to Chemistry, or 
Astrology to Astronomy; and shows how fundamentally our idea 
of a deity differs from that which presents itself to the savage. 
The negro does not hesitate to punish a refractory Fetich, and 
hides it in his waistcloth if he does not wish it to know what is 
going on. Aladdin's lamp is, in fact, a well-known illustration 
of a Fetich. 

A further stage, and the superiority of the higher deities is 
more fully recognised. Everything is worshipped indiscrimi- 
nately — animals, plants, and even inanimate objects. In 
endeavouring to account for the worship of animals, we must 
remember that names are very frequently taken from them. 
The children and followers of a man called the Bear or the 
Lion would make that a tribal name. Hence the animal itself 
would be first respected, at last worshipped. This form of 
religion can be shown to have existed, at one time or another, 
almost all over the world. 

' The Totem," says Schoolcraft, ' is a symbol of the name of 
'the progenitor — generally some quadruped, or bird, or other 
' object in the animal kingdom, which stands, if we may so ex- 
^ press it, as the surname of the family. It is always some 
' animated object, and seldom or never derived from the inani- 
' mate class of nature. Its significant importance is derived 
' from the fact that individuals unhesitatingly trace their 
' lineage from it. But whatever names they may be called 
' during their lifetime, it is the totem, and not their personal 
'name, that is recorded on the tomb or "adjedating" that 
' marks the place of burial. Families are thus traced when 
' expanded into bands or tribes, the multiplication of which in 
' North America has been very great, and has decreased, in 
' like ratio, the labours of the ethnologist.' Totemism, how- 
ever, is by no means confined to America. In Central India 



T0TEMI8M 517 

' the Moondah " EnidM " or Oraon " Minijrar," or Eel tribe, 
^ will not kill or eat that fish. The Hawk, Crow, or Heron 
' tribes will not kill or eat those birds. Livingstone, quoted in 
' Latham, tells us that the subtribes of Bitshaunas (or Bechu- 
^ anas) are similarly named after certain animals, and a tribe 
' never eats the animal from which it is named, using the term 
' " ila," hate or dread, in reference to killing it.' ^ 

Traces, indeed, of Totemism, more or less distinct, are 
widely distributed, and often connected with marriage prohi- 
bitions. 

As regards inanimate objects, we must remember that the 
savage accounts for all action and movement by life ; hence a 
watch is to him alive. This being taken in conjunction with the 
feeling that anything unusual is ' great medicine,' leads to the 
worship of any remarkable inanimate object. Mr. Fergusson has 
recently attempted to show the special prevalence of Tree and 
Serpent worship. He might, I believe, have made out as strong 
a case for many other objects. It seems clear that the objects 
worshipped in this stage are neither to be regarded as emblems 
nor are they personified. Inanimate objects have spirits as well 
as men ; hence, when the wives and slaves are sacrificed, the 
weapons are also broken in the grave, so that the spirits of the 
latter, as well as of the former, may accompany their master to 
the other world. 

The gradually increasing power of chiefs and priests led to 
Anthropomorphism, with its sacrifices, temples, and priests, &c. 
To this stage belongs idolatry, which must by no means be re- 
garded as the lowest stage of religion. The writer of 'The 
' Wisdom of Solomon,' ^ indeed, long ago pointed out how it was 
connected with monarchical power : — 

' When men could not honour in presence, because they dwelt 
' far ofi", they took the counterfeit of his visage from far, and made 
' an express image of a king, whom they honoured, to the end 
' that by this, their forwardness, they might flatter him that was 
' absent, as if he were present. 

' Also the singular diligence of the artificer did help to set 
' forward the ignorant to more superstition. 

> Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. vi. p. 36. 
2 Wisdom xiv. ] 7. 



518 IDOLATRY 

' For lie, per adventure willing to please one in authority, 
' forced all his skill to make the resemblance of the best 
' fashion. 

' And so the multitude, allured by the grace of the work, took 
^ him now for a God which a little before was but honoured as a 
' man.' 

The worship of principles may be regarded as a still further 
stage in the natural development of religion. 

It is important to observe that each stage of religion is 
superimposed on the preceding, and that bygone beliefs linger on 
among the children and the ignorant. Thus witchcraft is still 
believed in by the ignorant, and fairy tales flourish in the nursery. 

It certainly appears to me that the gradual development of 
religious ideas among the lower races of men is a fair argument 
in opposition to the view that savages are degenerate descendants 
of civilised ancestors. Archbishop Whately would admit the con- 
nection between these different phases of religious belief ; but I 
think he would find it very difficult to show any process of 
natural degradation and decay which could explain the quaint 
errors and opinions of the lower races of men, or to account for 
the lingering belief in witchcraft, and other absurdities, &c., in 
civilised races, excepting by some such train of reasoning as that 
which I have endeavoured to sketch. 

There is another case in this memoir wherein the Duke, 
although generally a fair opponent, brings forward an unsup- 
portable accusation. He criticises severely the ' Four Ages,' 
generally admitted by archaeologists, especially referring to the 
terms ' Palseolithic ' and ' Neolithic,' which are used to denote 
the two earlier. 

I have no wish to take to myself in particular the blame 
which the Duke impartially extends to archaeologists in gene- 
ral, but, having suggested the two terms in question^ I will 
simply place side by side the passage in which they first ap- 
peared and the Duke's criticism, and confidently ask whether 
there is any foundation for the sweeping accusation made by the 
noble Duke. 

The Duke says : ' For here My words, when proposing 

' I must observe that Archaeo- the terms, were as follows : — 



THE TRUE THEORY OF THE FOUR AGES 519 



' legists are using language on 
' this subject wliicli, if not po- 
' sitively erroneous, requires, 
' at least, more rigorous de- 
' finitiony and limitations of 
' meaning than they are dis- 
' posed to attend to. They 
' talk of an Old Stone Age 
' (Palaeolithic), and of a Newer 
' Stone Age (Neolithic), and 
' of a Bronze Age, and of an 
' Iron Age. Now, there is 
' no proof whatever that such 
' Ages ever existed in the 
' world. It may be true, and 
' it probably is true, that most 
' nations in the ^^rogress of the 
' Arts have passed through 
' the staofes of usino^ stone for 
' implements before they were 
' acquainted with the use of 
' metals. Even this, however, 
' may not be true of all na- 
' tions. In Africa there ap- 
' pear to be no traces of any 
' time when the natives were 
' not acquainted with the use 
' of iron ; and I am informed 
' by Sir Samuel Baker that 
' iron ore is so common in 
' Africa and of a kind so 
' easily reducible by heat, that 
' its use might well be disco- 
' vered by the rudest tribes, 
' who were in the habit of 
' lighting fires. Then again 
' it is to be remembered that 
' there are some countries in the 
' world where stone is as rare 
' and difficult to get as metals. 



' From the careful study of 
the remains which have comt 
down to us, it would appear 
that the prehistoric archaeo- 
logy may be divided into four 
great epochs. 

' Firstly, that of Drift, when 
man shared the possession of 
Europe with the Mammoth, 
the cave-bear, the woolly- 
haired rhinoceros, and other 
extinct animals. This we 
may call the " Palaeolithic "' 
period. 

' Secondly, the latter or 
polished Stone Age ; a period 
characterised by beautiful 
weapons and instruments 
made of flint and other kinds 
of stones, in which, however, 
we find no trace of the know- 
ledge of any metal, excepting 
gold, which seems to have 
been sometimes used for or- 
naments. This we may call 
the Neolithic period. 

' Thirdly, the Bronze Age, 
in which bronze was uged for 
arms and cutting instruments 
of all kinds. 

' Fourthly, the Iron Age, in 
which that metal had super- 
seded bronze for arms, axes, 
knives, &c. ; bronze, how- 
ever, still being in common 
use for ornaments, and fre- 
quently also for the handles 
of swords and other arms, but 
never for the blades. 

' Stone weapons, however, 



520 



THE TBUIJ THEORY OF THE FOUR AGES 



' The great alluvial plains 
of Mesopotamia are a case in 
point. Accordingly we know 
from the remains of the first 
Chaldean monarchy that a 
very high civilisation in the 
arts of agriculture and of 
commerce coexisted with the 
use of stone implements of a 
very rude character. This 
fact proves that rude stone 
implements are not necessa- 
rily any proof whatever of 
a really barbarous condition. 
And even if it were true that 
the use of stone has in all 
cases preceded the use of 
metals, it is quite certain 
that the same age which was 
an Age of Stone in one part 
of the world was an Age of 
Metal in the other. As re- 
gards the Eskimo and the 
South Sea Islanders, we are 
now, or were very recently, 
living in a Stone Age.' 



of many kinds were still in use 
during the Age of Bronze, 
and even during that of Iron. 
So that the mere presence of a 
few stone implements is not in 
itself suflScient evidence that 
any given '^ find " belongs to 
the Stone Age. 

' In order to prevent mis- 
apprehension, it may be as 
well to state at once that I 
only apply this classification 
to Europe, though in all pro- 
bability it might also be ex- 
tended to the neighbouring 
parts of Asia and Africa. 
As regards other civilised 
countries, China and Japan 
for instance, we, as yet, know 
nothing of their prehistoric 
archaeology. It is evident, 
also, that some nations, such 
as the Fuegians, Andama- 
ners, &c., are even now only 
in an Age of Stone.' 



I have therefore carefully pointed out those very limitations, 
the omission of which the Duke condemns. 

I will now bring forward one or two additional reasons in 
support of my view. There is a considerable body of evidence 
tending to show that the offspring produced by crossing 
different varieties tends to revert to the type from which these 
varieties are descended. Thus Tegetmeier states that ' a cross 
' between two non-sitting varieties (of the common fowl) almost 
^ invariably produces a mongrel that becomes broody, and sits 
' with remarkable steadiness.' Mr. Darwin gives several cases 
in which such hybrids or mongrels are singularly wild and un- 
tamable, the mule being a familiar instance. Messrs. Boitard 



EVIDENCE FROM CB0S8ED RACES 521 

and Corbie state that, when they crossed certain breeds of 
pigeons, they invariably got some young ones coloured like the 
wild C. livia. Mr. Darwin repeated these experiments, and 
found the statement fully confirmed. 

So, again, the same is the case with fowls. The original of 
the domestic fowl was of a reddish colour, but thousands of the 
Black Spanish and the white silk fowls might be bred without 
a single red feather appearing ; 3'et Mr. Darwin found that on 
crossing them he immediately obtained specimens with red 
feathers. Similar results have been obtained with ducks, 
rabbits, and cattle. Mules also have not un frequently barred 
legs. It is unnecessary to give these cases in detail, because 
Mr. Darwin's work on ' Animals and Plants under Domestica- 
^ tion ' is in the hands of every naturalist. 

Applying the same test to man, Mr. Darwin observes that 
crossed races of men are singularly savage and degraded. 
' Many years ago,' he says, ' I was struck by the fact that in 
' South America men of complicated descent between Negroes, 
' Indians, and Spaniards, seldom had, whatever the cause might 
be, a good expression. Livingstone remarks that " it is un- 
accountable why half-castes are so much more cruel than the 
' " Portuguese, but such is undoubtedly the case.'' A native 
' remarked to Livingstone — " God made white men, and God 
'"black men, but the devil made half-castes!" When two 
^ races, both low in the scale, are crossed, the progeny seems to 
' be eminently bad. Thus the noble-hearted Humboldt, who 
' felt none of that prejudice against the inferior races now so 
' current in England, speaks in strong terms of the bad and 
' savage disposition of Zambas, or half-castes between Indians 
' and Negroes, and this conclusion has been arrived at by 
' various observers. From these facts we may perhaps infer 
' that the degraded state of so many half-castes is in part due 
' to a reversion to a primitive and savage condition, induced by 
' the act of crossing, as well as to the unfavourable moral con- 
' ditions under which they generally exist.' 

I confess, however, that I am not sure how far this may not 
be accounted for by the unfortunate circumstances in which 
half-breeds are generally placed. The half-breeds between 
the Hudson's Bay Company's servants and the native women, 






522 SIMILARITY OF SAVAGES AND GEILDBEN 

being well treated and looked after, appear to be a creditable 
and well-behaved set.^ 

I would also call particular attention to the remarkable 
similarity between the mental characteristics of savages and 
those of children. ' The Abipones,' says Dobritzhoffer,^ ' when 
' they are unable to comprehend anything at first sight, soon 
' grow weary of examining it, and cry " orqueenam ? " what 
' is it after all ? Sometimes the Guaranies, when completely 
' puzzled, knit their brows, and cry " tupa oiquaa," God knows 
'what it is. Since they possess such small reasoning powders 
' and have so little inclination to exert them, it is no wonder 
' that they are neither able nor willing to argue one thing from 
' another.' 

Richardson says of the Dogrib Indians, ' that however high 
' the reward they expected to receive on reaching their desti- 
' nation, they could not be depended on to carry letters. A 
' slight difficulty, the prospect of a banquet on venison, or a 
' sudden impulse to visit some friend, were sufiicient to turn 
' them aside for an indefinite length of time.' ^ Le Yaillant '^ 
also observes of the Namaquas, that they closely resembled 
children in their great curiosity, 

M. Bourien,^ speaking of the wild tribes in the Malayan 
Peninsula, says that an ' inconstant humour, fickle and erratic, 
' together with a mixture of fear, timidity, and diffidence, lies 
' at the bottom of their character ; they seem always to think 
' that they would be better in any other place than in the one 
' they occupy at the time. Like children, their actions seem 
'to be rarely guided by reflection, and they almost always act 
' impulsively.' The tears of the South Sea Islanders, ' like 
'those of children, were always ready to express any passion 
'that was strongly excited, and, like those of children, they 
' also appear to be forgotten as soon as shed.' ^ 

The Kutchin Indians of North-West America, according to 
Morgan, ' give vent to injured feelings, as well as physical pain. 



* Dunn's Oregon Territory, p. 147. p. 12. 

^ History of the Abipones, vol. ii. ^ Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. iii. 

P- 59. p. 78. 

•^ Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 23. « Cook's First Voyage, p. 103. 

■* Travels in Africa, 1776, vol. iii. 



SIMILARITY OF SAVAGES AND CHILDBEN 523 

' by crying, a practice shared equally by the males and females, 
' and by the old as well as the young.' 

At Tahiti, Captain Cook mentions that Oberea, the Queen 
and Tootahah. one of the principal chiefs, amused themselves 
with two large dolls. D'Urville tells us that a New Zealand 
chief, Tauvarya by name, ' cried like a child because the sailors 
' spoilt his favourite cloak by powdering it with flour.' ^ 
Williams 2 mentions that in Fiji not only the women, but even 
the men, give vent to their feelings by crying. Burton even says 
that among East Africans the men cried more frequently than 
the women.^ 

The Negro kings of Western Africa, ' from Gelele to Rumanika 
' of Karaqwah, are delighted with children's toys, gutta-percha 
' faces, Noah's arks ; in fact, what would be most acceptable to a 
' child of eight — which the Negro is.' "^ 

Not only do savages closely resemble children in their 
general character, but a curious similarity exists between them 
in many small points. For instance, the tendency to redupli- 
cation, which is so characteristic of children, prevails remarkably 
also among savages. The first 1,000 words in Richardson's 
dictionary (down to allege), contain only three, namely, adsci- 
titious, adventitious, agitator, and even in these it is reduced 
to a minimum. There is not a single word like ahi xchi, 
evening ; ake aJce, eternal ; aki aki^ a bird ; aniiviuiiwa, the 
rainbow ; cmga anga, agreement ; angi 07igi, abroad ; aro aro, 
in front ; arw aru, to woo ; ati ati, to drive out ; awa aiua, a 
valley- or awanga ivanga, hope, words of a class which abound 
in savage languages. 

The first 1,000 words in a French dictionary I found to contain 
only two reduplications, namely, anana and assassin, both of which 
are derived from a lower race, and cannot, strictly speaking, be 
regarded as French. 

Again 1,000 German words, taking for variety the letters C 
and D, contain six cases, namely, cacndu (cockatoo), cacao, cocon 
(cocoon), cocoshanm, a cocoa-nut tree, cocosnuss, cocoa-nut, and 
dagegen, of which again all but the last are foreign. 

' Vol. ii. p. 398. See also Yate's p. 121. 
Kew Zealand, p. 101. ^ Lake Regions, p. 832. 

- Fiji and the Fijians, vol. ii. ' Burton's Daliome, vol. i. p. 326. 



524 



LANGUAGE OF SAVAGES 



Lastly, the first 1,000 Greek words contained only two re- 
duplications, one of which is a/SdpjSapos. 

For comparison with the above I have examined the voca- 
bularies of the following eighteen tribes, and the results are given 
in the following table : — 





Number 


Xumber 


Propor- 




Languages 


of words 


of redu- 


tion per 1 






examiued 


plications 


million 




Europe — 










English 


1,000 


3 


3 




French 


1,000 


2 


2 


Both foreign. 


German 


1,000 


6 


6 


All but one foreign. 


Greek .... 


1,000 


2 


2 


One being afidpfiapos. 


Africa — 










Beetjuan 


188 


7 


37 


Lichtenstein. 


Bosjesman . 


129 


5 


38 


,, 


Xamaqua Hottentot . 


1,000 


75 


75 


H. Tindall. 


Mpongwe . 


1,264 


70 


60 


Snowden and Prall. 


Fulup .... 


204 


28 


137 


Koelle. 


Mbofon 


267 


27 


100 


)> 


America — 










Makah 


1,011 


80 


79 


Smithsonian Contribu- 
tions, 1869. 


Darien Indians . 


184 


13 


70 


Trans. Eth. Soc. vol. vi. 


Ojibwa 


283 


21 


74 


Schoolcraft. 


Tiipy Brazil 


1,000 


66 


66 


Gonsalvez Dias. 


Negroid — 










Brumer Island . 


214 


37 


170 


Macgillivray. 


Bed scar Bay 


125 


10 


80 


j^ 


Louisiade . 


138 


22 


160 


j> 


Erroob 


513 


23 


45 


Jukes. 


Lewis Murray Island . 


506 


19 


38 


>j 


Australia 










Kowrarega . 


720 


26 


36 


; Macgillivray. 


Polynesia — 








1 


Tonga. 


1,000 


166 


166 


Mariner. 


New Zealand 


1,300 


220 


169 


Dieffenbach. 



For African languages I have examined the Beetjuan and 
Bosjesman dialects, given by Lichtenstein in his ' Travels in 
' Southern Africa ; ' the Namaqua Hottentot, as given by 
Tindall in his ' Grammar and Vocabulary of the Namaqua 
' Hottentot ; ' the Mpongwe of the Gaboon, from the Grammar 
of the Mpongwe language published by Snowden and Prall 
of New York; and lastly the Fulup and Mbofon languages, 
from Koelle's ' Polyglotta Africana.' For America, the Makah 
dialect, given by Mr. Swan in the Smithsonian Contributions 
for 1869; the Ojibwa vocabulary, given in Schoolcraft's 



TENDENCY OF BEDUPLICATIONS 525 

^ Indian tribes ; ' the Darien vocabulary, from the 6th vol. 
N. S. of the Ethnological Society's Transactions; and the 
Tupy vocabulary, given in A. Gonsalvez Dias' ' Diccionario 
' da Lingua Tupy, chamada lingua geral dosindigenas do Brazil.' 
To these I have added the languages spoken on Brumer Island, 
at Eedscar Bay, Kowrarega, and at the Louisiade, as collected 
by Macgillivray in the ' Voyage of the Rattlesnake ; ' and 
the dialects of Erroob and Lewis Murray Island from Jukes' 
' Voyage of the Fly.' Lastly, for Polynesia, the Tongan 
dictionary, given by Mariner, and that of New Zealand by 
Dieffenbach. 

The result is, that while in the four European languages we 
get about two reduplications in 1,000 words, in the savage ones 
the number varies from thirty-eight to 170, being from twenty 
to eighty times as many in proportion. 

In the Polynesian and Fiji Islands they are particularly 
numerous ; thus, in Fiji, such names as Somosomo, Raki- 
raki, Raviravi, Lumaluma are common. Perhaps the most 
familiar New Zealand words are meremere, ijatoo patoo, and 
liivi hivi. So generally, however, is reduplication a character- 
istic of savage tongues, that it even gave rise to the term 
' barbarous.' 

In some cases grammatical relations are indicated by re- 
duplication ; for instance, in old Aryan the perfect ; in others, 
as in Bushman, the plural; sometimes, as in Mandingo, the 
superlative.^ 

The love of pets is very strongly developed among savages. 
Many instances have been given by Mr. Galton in his Memoir 
on the ' Domestication of Animals.' ^ 

Among minor indications may be mentioned the use of the 
rattle. Originally a sacred and mysterious instrument, as it is 
still among some of the Siberian, Redskin, and Brazilian' 
tribes, it has with us degenerated into a child's toy. Thus 
Dobritzhoflfer tells us, the Abipones at a certain season of the 
year worshipped the Pleiades. The ceremony consisted in a 
feast accompanied with dancing and music, alternating with 

» Bopp. Doppelung als eines der * Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. iii. p. 122. 

wichtigsten Bildungsmittel der "^ Martins, Von dem Rechtszu- 

Sprache. stande iinter den Ur-Braziliens, p. 43. 



526 ANGIJENT GEBEM0NIE8 AND MODERN GAMES 

praises of the stars, during which the principal priestess, ' who 
' conducts the festive ceremonies, dances at intervals, rattling 
' a gourd full of hardish fruit-seeds to musical time, and 
^ whirling round to the right with one foot, and to the left with 
' another, without ever removing from one spot, or in the 
^ least varying her motions.' ^ Spix and Martins^ thus describe 
a Cooado chief: In the middle of the assembly, and nearest 
to the pot, stood ' the chief, who, by his strength, cunning, and 
' courage, had obtained some command over them, and had re- 
' ceived from Marlier the title of Captain. In his right hand 
' he held the maraca, the above-mentioned castanet, which 
' they call gringerina, and rattled with it, beating time with 
' his right foot.' ' The Congo Negroes had a great wooden 
' rattle, upon which they took their oaths.' ^ The rattle also is 
very important among the Indians of North America.^ When 
any person is sick, the sorcerer or medicine-man brings his 
sacred rattle and shakes it over him. This, says Prescott, 'is 
' the principal catholicon for all diseases.' Catlin ^ also describes 
the ' rattle ' as being of great importance. Some tribes have a 
sacred drum closely resembling that of the Lapps.^ When an 
Indian is ill, the magician, says Carver,^ ' sits by the patient day 
' and night, rattling in his ears a gourd-shell filled with dried 
' beans, called a chichicone.' 

Klemm ^ also remarks on the great significance attached to the 
rattle throughout America, and Staad even thought that it was 
worshipped as a divinity.^ 

Schoolcraft ^^ also gives a figure of Oshkabaiwis, a Eedskin 
medical chief, ' holding in his hand the magic rattle,' which is, 
indeed, the usual emblem of authority in the American picto- 
graphs. I know no case of a savage infant using the rattle as a 
plaything. 

Tossing halfpence, as dice, again, which used to be a sacred 

1 Dobritzhoffer, vol. ii. p. 65. See 40, 163, &c. 
also p. 72. 6 Catlin, loc. cit. p. 40. 

■■^ Travels in Brazil. London, 1824, ' Travels, p. 385. 

vol. ii. p. 234. s Culturgeschichte, vol. ii. p. 172. 

^ Astley's Coll. of Voyages, vol. » Moenrs des Sauvages americains, 

iii. p. 233. vol. ii. p. 297. 

■» Prescott in Schoolcraft's Indian '" Indian Tribes, Pt. III. pp. 490, 

Tribes, vol. ii. pp. 179, 180. 492. 

^ American Indians, vol. i. pp. 37, 



ANCIENT GBBEMONmS AND MODERN GAMES 527 

and solemn mode of consulting the oracles, is now a mere game 
for children. 

So again the doll is a hybrid between the baby and the fetich, 
and, exhibiting the contradictory characters of its parents, becomes 
singularly unintelligible to grown-up people. Mr. Tylor has 
pointed out other illustrations of this argument, and I would refer 
those who feel interested m this part of the subject to his excellent 
work. 

Dancing is another case in point. With us it is mere 
amusement. Among savages it is an important, and, in some 
cases, religious, ceremony. ' If,' says Robertson,^ ' any inter- 
' course be necessary between two American tribes, the ambas- 
' sadors of the one approach in a solemn dance, and present the 
' calumet or emblem of peace ; the sachems of the other receive 
' it with the same ceremony. If war is denounced against an 
' enemy, it is by a dance, expressive of the resentment which 
' they feel, and of the vengeance which they meditate. If the 
' wrath of their gods is to be appeased, or their beneficence to 
' be celebrated, if they rejoice at a birth of a child, or mourn 
' the death of a friend, they have dances a^opropriated to each 
' of these situations, and suited to the different sentiments with 
^ which ' they are then animated. If a person is indisposed, a 
' dance is prescribed as the most effectual means of restoring 
' him to health ; and if he himself cannot endure the fatigue of 
' such an exercise, the physician or conjuror performs it in his 
' name, as if the virtue of his activity could be transferred to his 
' patient.' 

But it is unnecessary to multiply illustrations. Every one 
who has read much on the subject will admit the truth of the 
statement. It explains the capricious treatment which so many 
white men have received from savage potentates; how they 
have been alternately petted and ill-treated, at one time loaded 
with the best of everything, at another neglected or put to 
death. 

The close resemblance existing in ideas, language, habits, 

and character between savages and children, though generally 

admitted, has usually been disposed of in a passing sentence 

and regarded rather as a curious accident than as an important 

^ Kobertson's America, bk. iv. p. 133. 



528 DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL 

truth. Yet from several X-)oints of view it possesses a high in- 
terest. Better understood, it might have saved us many 
national misfortunes, from the loss of Captain Cook down to 
the Abyssinian war. It has also a direct bearing on the present 
discussion. 

The opinion is rapidly gaining ground among naturalists, 
that the development of the individual is an epitome of that of 
the species, a conclusion which, if fally borne out, will, evidently, 
prove most instructive. Already many facts are on record 
which render it, to say the least, highly probable. Birds of 
the same genus, or of closely allied genera, which, when ma- 
ture, differ much in colour, are often very similar when young- 
The young of the Lion and the Puma are often striped, and 
foetal whales have teeth. Leidy has shown that the milk-teeth 
of the genus Equits resemble the permanent teeth of Anchi- 
therium, while the milk-teeth of Anchitherium again approxi- 
mate to the dental system of Merychipjous} Rtitimeyer, 
while calling attention to this interesting observation, adds that 
the milk teeth of Equus caballus in the same way, and still 
more those of E. fossilis, resemble the permanent teeth of 
Hi'pparion} 

Agassiz, according to Darwin, regards it as a 4aw of nature,' 
that the young states of each species and group resemble older 
forms of the same group ; and Darwin himself says,^ that ' in 
'two or more groups of animals, however much they may at 
' first differ from each other in structure and habits, if they 
' pass through closely similar embryonic stages, we may feel 
' almost assured that they have descended from the same parent 
' form and are therefore closely related.' So also Mr. Herbert 
Spencer says,^ ' Each organism exhibits within a short space of 
' time a series of changes which, when supposed to occupy a period 
' indefinitely great, and to go on in various ways instead of one 
' way, give us a tolerably clear conception of o-i-ganic evolution in 
' general.' 

It may be said that this argument involves the acceptance 

' Proc. Acad. Nat. Soc. Philadel- ^ origin of Species, 4th edition, 

phia, 1858, p. 26. p. 532. 

2 Beitrage zur Kenntniss der fos- * Principles of Biology, vol. i. 

silen Pferde. Basle, 1863. p. 349. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPECIES 529 

of tlie Darwinian hypothesis ; this would, however, be a mis- 
take ; the objection might indeed be tenable if men belono-ed 
to different species, but it cannot fairly be urged by those who 
regard all mankind as descended from common ancestors ; and, 
in fact, it is strongly held by Agassiz, one of Mr. Darwin's 
most uncompromising opponents. Regarded from this point 
of view, the similarity existing between savages and children 
assumes a singular importance and becomes almost conclusive 
as regards the question now at issue. 

The Duke ends his work with the expression of a belief 
that man, 'even in his most civilised condition, is capable of 
' degradation, that his knowledge may decay, and that his 
'religion may be lost.' That this is true of individuals, I 
do not of course deny ; that it holds good with the human 
race, I cannot believe.^ Far more true, as it seems to me, 
are the concluding passages of Lord Dunraven's opening ad- 
dress to the Cambrian Archaeological Association, ' that if we 
' look back through the entire period of the past history of 
' man, as exhibited in the result of archaeological investigation, 
' we can scarcely fail to perceive ' that the whole exhibits one 
' grand scheme of progression, which, notwithstanding partial 
' periods of decline, has for its end the ever-increasing civilisa- 
' tion of man, and the gradual development of his higher facul- 
' ties, and for its object the continual manifestation of the design, 
' the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of Almighty God.' 

I confess, therefore, that, after giving the arguments of the 
Duke of Argyll my most attentive and candid consideration, I 
see no reason to adopt his melancholy conclusion, but I remain 
persuaded that the past history of man has, on the whole, been 
ona of progress, and that, in looking forward to the future, we 
are justified in doing so with confidence and with hope. 

1 The Duke appears to consider subsequently clothed with leaves, but 

that the first men, though deficient in as unable to resist the most trivial 

knowledge of the mechanical arts, were temptation, and as entertaining very 

morally and intellectually superior, or gross and anthropomorphic concep- 

at least equal, to those of the present tions of the Deity. In fact, in all three 

day; and it is remarkable that, sup- characteristics— in his mode of life, 

porting such a view, he should regard in his moral condition, and in his in- 

himself as a champion of orthodoxy. tellectual conceptions— Adam was a 

Adam is, on the contrary, represented typical savage. 
to us in Genesis not only as naked, and 

M ^l 



NOTES. 

Page 72. 
Position of Women in Australia.^ 

' FcEMiN^ sese per totam pene vitam prostituunt. Apiicl 
'plurimas tribiis juyentutem utriusque sexus sine discrimine 
' concnmbere in usus est. Si juvenis forte indigenorum coetum 
' quendam in castris manentem adveniat, ubi quEevis sit pnella 
'innnpta, mos est, nocte veniente et cubantibus omnibus, 
' illam ex loco exsurgere et juvenem accidentem cum illo per 
' noctem manere, unde in sedem propriam ante diem redit. Cui 
' foemina sit, earn amicis libenter pra3bet : si in itinere sit, uxori 
' in castris manenti aliquis supplet illi vires. Advenis ex 
' longinquo accidentibus foeminas ad tempus dare liospitis esse 
' boni judicatur. Yiduis et foeminis jam senescentibus ssepe in 
' id traditis, quandoque etiam invitis et insciis cognatis, adole- 
' scent es utuntur. Puellte tenerse a decimo primum anno, et 
' pueri a decimo tertio vel quarto, inter se miscentur. Seniori- 
' bus mos est, si forte gentium plurium castra appropinquant, 
' viros noctu liinc inde transeuntes, uxoribus alienis uti et in 
' sua castra ex utraque parte mane redire. 

' Temporibus quinetiam certis, macbina qu£edam ex ligno 
' ad formam ovi facta, sacra et mystica, nam foeminas aspicere 
' baud licitum, decern plus minus uncias longa et circa quatuor 
' lata, insculpta ac figuris diversis ornata, et ultimam perforata 
' partem ad longam (plerumque e crinibus humanis text am) 
' inserendam cbordam cui nomen " Moo yumkarr," extra castra 
' in gyrum versata, stridore magno e percusso ^re facto, liber- 
' tatem coeundi juventuti esse tum concessam omnibuis indicat- 
' Parentes sfepe infantum, viri uxorum, quasstum corporum 
' faciunt. In urbe Adelaide panis prgemio parvi aut paucorum 

' Eyre's Discoveries, Sec, vol. ii. p. 320. 

M M 2 



532 NOTES 

' denariorum meretrices fieri eas libenter cogunt. Facile potest 
' intelligi, amorem inter nuptos vix posse esse grandem, quum 
' omnia quae ad foeminas attinent, hominum arbitrio ordinentur 
' et tanta sexuum societati laxitas, et adolescentes qnibus ita 
'mult^ ardoris explendi dantur occasiones, baud magnopere 
' uxores, nisi ut servos, desideraturos.' 

Page 96. ■ 

Adojjtion. 

' Adjiciendum et boc, quod post evectionem ad Deos, Juno, 
' Jovis suasu, filium sibi Herculem adoptavit, et omne deinceps 
' tempus materna ipsum benevolentia complexa fuerit. Illam 
' adoptionem boc modo factam perbibent : Juno lectum in- 
*' gressa, Herculem corpori suo admotum, ut verum imitaretur 
' partum, subter vestes ad terram demisit. Quera in boc 
' usque tempus adoptionis ritum barbari observant.' ^ 

Page 124. 

The Character of Helen. 

Tbe character and position of Helen bave not, I think, been 
as yet correctly appreciated. Mr. Gladstone truly observes ^ 
tbat ' No one forming bis estimate of Helen from Homer only 
' could fall into tbe gross error of looking upon ber as a type 
' of depraved character ; ' but even he has, I think, hardly done 
justice. He continues as follows : — 

' Her fall once incurred, she finds herself bound by the 
iron chain of circumstance, from which she can obtain no 
extrication. But to the world, beneath whose standard of 
morality she has sunk, she makes at least this reparation, that 
the sharp condemnation of herself is ever in her mouth, and 
that she does not seek to throw off the burden of her shame 
on her more guilty partner. Nay, more than this, her self- 
debasing and self-renouncing humility come nearer, perhaps, 
than any other heathen example to the type of Christian 
penitence.' 

Other writers have felt the same difficulty. Maclaurin, for 
1 Diodorus, iv. 39. 2 Jnventus Miandi, p. 507. 



NOTES 533 

instance, says : ^ ' What is most astonishing of all is, that they 
' (the Trojans) did not restore her upon the death of Paris, but 
' married her to his brother Deiphobus. Here Chrysostom 
^ argues, and with great plausibility, that this is perfectly in- 
' credible, upon the supposition that Paris had possessed himself 
' of her by a crime.' 

We must, however, judge Helen by the customs of the 
time ; and it has been clearly shown that among the lower races 
of man marriage by capture was a recognised custom. Hers 
seems to me a case of this kind. It will be observed that she 
is always spoken of as Paris' wife. Thus speaking of Paris she 
says : — 

Would that a better man had called me wife ; ^ 

and again : — 

Godlike Paris claims me as his wife.^ 

Paris himself speaks of her as his wife : — 

Yet hath my wife, e'en now, with soothing words 
Urged me to join the battle.'' 

So also Hector, though he regarded Paris with great con- 
tempt, and reproached him in strong language, addresses him as 
married : — 

Thou wretched FariSj though in form so fair, 
Thou slave of woman, manhood's counterfeit ! 
"Would thou had'st ne'er been born, or died at least 
Unwedded 1 ^ 

and speaks to Helen with kindness and affection ; as, for instance, 
in the Sixth Book he says : — 

Though kind thy wish, yet, Helen, ask me not 
To sit or rest ; I cannot yield to thee, 
For burns e'en now my soul to aid our friends. 
Who feel my loss, and sorely need my arm. 
But thou thy husband rouse, and let him speed, 
That he may find me still within the walls. "^ 

The aged Priam^ even when grieving over the fatal war is 

careful to assure Helen that he does not complain of her : — 

Not thee I blame, 
But to the Gods 1 owe this woful war.' 



' Dissertation to prove that Troy '' L. c. XXIV. 892. ■* VI. 394. 

was not taken by the Greeks. By ^ III- 43. 

John Maclaurin, Esq. " VI. 419. 

^ VI. 402. Lord Derby's Trans. ' L. c. III. 195. 



534 NOTES 

These were no exceptional cases. On the contrary, in her 
touching lament over Hector's corpse, Helen says : — 

Hector, of all my brethren dearest thou ! 

Trae, Godlike Paris claims me as his wife, 

Who bore me hither — wovild I then had died ! 

But twenty years have passed since here I came. 

And left my native land ; yet ne'er from thee 

I heard one scornful, one degrading word ; 

And when from others I have borne reproach, 

Thy brothers, sisters, or thy brothers' wives. 

Or mother (for thy sire was ever kind 

E'en as a father), thou hast check'd them still 

With tender feeling, and with gentle words. 

For thee I weep, and for myself no less ; 

For, through the breadth of Troy, none love me now, 

None kindly look on me, but all abhor. 

Weeping she spoke, and with her wept the crowd. 

Even in that hour of sorrow, the people pitied, but did not 
upbraid her. It is true that she reproaches herself; not, how- 
ever, apparently for her marriage with Paris, but on account of the 
misfortunes which she had been the means of bringing on Troy- 
It is a curious indication of the feeling of the times that, as 
Diogenes Laertius, in his life of Thales, tells us, the cup made 
by Vulcan as a wedding present for Pelops, having been taken 
by Paris ' when he carried off Helen, was thrown into the sea 
near Cos by her, as she said that it would become a cause of 
battle.' 

I dwell on these considerations, because unless we realise the 
fact that marriage by capture was a recognised form of matrimony, 
involving, according to the ideas of the time, no disgrace, at any 
rate to the woman, it seems to me that we cannot understand 
the character of Helen, or properly appreciate the ' Iliad ' itself. 
If Helen was a faithless wife, an abandoned and guilty wretch, 
the terms in which she is described by Homer would be, to say 
the least, misplaced : he would have condoned vice when clad in 
the garb of beauty. 

Yet his treatment of Venus shows how little likely he was so 
to err, and we must, I think, on the whole, conclude that Helen, 
having been carried off forcibly, was, according to the ideas of 
the time, legally married to Paris, and was guilty of no crime. 



NOTES 535 

Page 132. 

Expiation for Marriage. 
St. Augustine says : — 

' Sed quid hoc dicam, cum ibi sit et Priapus nimius 
' masculus, super cuj us immanissimum et turpissimum fascinum 
^ sedere nova nupta jubeatui', more lionestissimo et religiosissimo 
' matronarum ? ' ^ 

In his description of Babylonian customs, Herodotus says : '^ 

'O Se 3?) aX(jyj,(TTO^ twv vojjlwv harl rolai ^a/3v\(i)VL0i(TL 
oBs ' Ssl TTCLcrav <yvvalKa siTi')(^(opirjv l^o^sptjv Is- Ipov 'A(f)poSLT7]9 
aira^ sv rfj ^orj jjn^OrjvaL avSpl ^slvo). iroWal 8s /cat ov/c a^csv- 
pLSvac avafjULo-ysaOai rfjcrt aWyai, ola ttXovtw virsp^povsovcraL^ 
STTi ^svyscoiJ 5v Ka/uidpyaL s\dcra(Tat, irpos to Ipov scrrdai • 
OspaTTTjir) Ss a(pc oincrOsv sirsrai iro'XXrj. at hs ifKsvvss iroisvai 
whs' sv TSfjbsvsl \k.(f)pohiT7]S Karsarai, arscj^avov irepl rfjac 
KS(pa\y(TL sj^ovaai Oco/jbtyyos, TroWal yvvoiKSs • at pLSv yap 
Trpocrsp'^ovrai,, at Ss d'7Tsp')(ovTai. g'^olvotsvsss hs ots^oooc 
irdvra rpoirov oSmv s-^ovcn Sid ra)v yvvaiKwv, 8C wv ol ^slvol 
hiz^iovTSS SKKsyovrai. sv9a sirsdv L^r)Tac yvvrj, ov irporspov 
diraWdo-crsTai ss rd oiKia, t] tls ol ^slvcov dpyvpiov i/x^aXcov 
S9 rd yovvara, j^i^x^V ^'f^ '^^^ ^P^^ ' s/jL/^aXovra Ss Ssl slirslv 
Toaovhs' ^^iriKaXsG) rot rr]v 6sov MuXirra. M-vXcTra os 
KoXsovcTL T7]v " A(f)pohlT7]v ^ AcTavpLOL' TO Ss dpyvptov fjisyaOos icTTC 
oaov wv OV ydp pur] dnrooar^Tai' ov yap ol 6s/ubL9 sari- yLVsrac 
ydp Ipov TovTo TO dpyvptov tco hs TrpcoTO) s/ju^aXovTC sirsTaL, 
ovSs dirohoKifJua ovSsva' sirsdv Ss ixf^Oy d7roat(i)aafjL<lv7} tj/ Oso) 
aTraWdaasTat s$ Td olKia, kol touto tovtov ovk, ovtco fisya tl 
ol ScoasL9 MS jjbiv Xdjji-yjrsac. oaai /jlsv vvv slBsos ts sirap.psva.i 
slcrl zeal [isydOsos, 'tol'^^v diraXKacrdOVTai' oaai os afiopcpoo 
avTscov slat, ')(^p6vov iroWov Trpoaptsv overt, ov BvvdfMSvat tov 
voptov sKifkrjaat' Kal ydp TptsTsa Kal TSTpasTsa p,STS^STSpat 
"Xpovov fxsvovcrt. ivta^y Ss /cal ttjs Kvirpov icrrl 7rapair\i)aLos 

TOVTQ) VOjJbOS. 

Mela 3 tells us that among the Auziles, another /Ethiopian 
1 Civit. Dei, vi. 9. ^ ciio, i. 199. ^ Mela, i. 8. 



536 NOTES 

tribe, ' Femiuis solemne est, nocte, qua nubunt, omniam 
^ stupro patere, qui cum munere advenerint : et turn, cum 
' plurimis concubuisse, maximum decus ; in reliquum pudicitia 
' insignis est.' 

Speaking of tlie Nasamonian, Herodotus observes : — 

nrpcoTOV Bs ya/ubsovTO^ l^sacrajJiMVOs dvSpos, v6fi09 sari rrjv 
vufiiprjv vvktI rfj irpcorT] Sta iravTcov Sis^sXOslv tmv oatrvfiovcov 
/jLL(Tyo/jLsv7]V' TOdV Ss 0)9 sKacTTOS ol ^iy^Ofj^ BiBot Bcdpov, TO av 

'^XV ^^pOH'^VOS ^? OLKOV.^ \^ 

In many cases the exclusive possession of a wife could 
only be legally acquired by a temporary recognition of the pre- 
existing communal rights. The account given by Herodotus ^ 
of the custom existing in Babylonia has been already quoted. 
According to Strabo, there was a very similar law in Armenia.^ 
In some parts of Cyprus also, among the Nasamones,^ and 
other Ethiopian tribes, he tells us that the same custom 
existed ; and Dulaure asserts that it occurred also at Carthage, 
and in several parts of Greece, as also, according- to Hamilton,^ 
in Hindostan. The account which Herodotus gives of 
the Lydians, though not so clear, seems to indicate a similar 
law. 

The customs of the Thracians, as described by Herodotus,^ 
point to a similar feeling. Among races somewhat more ad- 
vanced, the symbol supersedes the reality of this custom, and 
St. Augustine found it necessary to protest against that which 
prevailed, even in his time, in Italy. ^ 

Diodorus Siculus mentions that in the Balearic Islands, 
Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica, the bride was for one night consi- 
dered as the common property of all the guests present ; after 
which she belonged exclusively to her husband.^ Garcilasso 
de la Vega records the existence of a similar custom among the 
Mantas, a Peruvian tribe ;^ as also does Langsdorf,^^ in Nukahiva ; 

^ Melpomene, iv. 172. See App. 
2 Clio, 199. 3 Strabo, lib. ii. « Diodorus, v. 18. 

" Melpomene, 172. 9 Eoyal Commentaries of the 

5 Account of the East Indies. Incas, vol. ii. p. 442. 
Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. viii. p. 374. '" Wuttke's Die ersten Stufen der 

« Terpsichore, v. 6. Geschichte der Menschheit, vol. i. 

' Dulaure, ioc. cit., vol. ii. p. 160. p. 177. 



NOTES 537 

and we jBnd a similar idea in part of Madagascar and in the 
Philippines. 

In India/ and particularly in the valleys of the Ganges, 
virgins were compelled before marriage to present themselves 
in the temples dedicated to Juggernaut, and the same is said 
to have been customary in Pondicherry and at Goa.^ To the 
same feeling we may perhaps ascribe the custom v/hich in so 
many cases gave the jus fvimce noctis to the chief or the 
medicine man. 

Among the Sonthals, one of the aboriginal Indian tribes, 
the marriages take place once a year, mostly in January. For 
six days all the candidates for matrimony live together ; after 
which only are the separate couples regarded as having estab- 
lished their right to marry.^ Mr. Fison tells us that among 
the Kurnais marriage by capture is the only recognised form. 
' But a man,' he says, ' must give notice to his " pares '"' (I do 
' not know how otherwise to distinguish them), and they must 
' meet the woman in the bush, and use her as their wife before 
' she can elope with him.' * 

Carver mentions ^ that while among the Naudowessies he 
observed that they paid uncommon respect to one of their 
women, and found that she was considered to be a person of 
high distinction, because on one occasion she invited forty of 
the principal warriors to her tent, provided them with a feast, 
and treated them in every res^Dect as husbands. On enquiry 
he was informed that this was an old custom, but had fallen into 
abeyance, and ' scarcely once in an age any of the females are 
' hardy enough to make this feast, notwithstanding a husband of 
' the first rank awaits as a sure reward the successful giver of it.' 

Speaking of the Greenland Esquimaux, Egede expressly states 
that those are reputed the best and noblest tempered ' who, with- 
' out any pain or reluctancy, will lend their friends their wives.' ^ 

We know that in Athens courtesaus were highly respected. 
' The daily conversation they listened to,' says Lord Kames,^ ' on 

^ Histoire abregee cles Cultes, p. 356. 
vol. i. p. 431. ^ Travels in North x\merica, 

2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 108. p. 245. See also Notes. 

8 The People of India, by J. F. " History of Greenland, p. 142. 

Watson and J. W. Kaye, vol. i. p. 2. ' History of Man, vol. ii. p. 50. 

* Fison. Jour. Anthr. Inst., 1880, 



538 NOTES 

' pliilosopliy, politics, poetry, enlightened their understanding 
' and improved their taste. Their houses became agreeable 
' schools, where everyone might be instructed in his own art. 
' Socrates and Pericles met frequently at the house of Aspasia, 
' for from her they acquired delicacy of taste, and, in return, 
' procured to her public respect and reputation. Greece at that 
' time was governed by orators, over whom some celebrated 
' courtesans had great influence, and by that means - entered 
' deep into the government.' 

So also it was an essential of the model Platonic Eepublic 
' that among the guardians, at least, the sexual arrangements 
' should be under public regulation, and the monopoly of one 
' woman by one man forbidden.' ^ 

In Java we are told that courtesans are by no means despised, 
and in some parts of Western Africa the negroes are stated to 
look on them with respect ; while, on the other hand, oddly 
enough, they have a strong feeling against musicians, who are 
looked on as ' infamous, but necessary tools for their pleasure.' 
They did not even permit them to be buried, lest they should 
pollute the earth.^ In India, again, various occupations which 
we regard as useful ^ and innocent, if humble, are considered to 
be degrading in the highest degree. On the other hand, in the 
famous Indian city of Vesali, ' marriage was forbidden, and high 
' rank attached to the lady who held office as Chief of the Courte- 
' sans.' When the Holy Buddha (Sakyamuni), in his old age, 
visited Vesali, ' he was lodged in a garden belonging to the Chief 
' of the Courtesans, and received a visit from this grand lady, 
' who drove out to see him, attended by her suite in stately car- 
' riages. Having approached and bowed down, she took her seat 
' on one side of him and listened to a discourse on Dharma. . . . 
' On entering the town she met the rulers of Vesali, gorgeously 
' apparelled ; but their equipages made way for her. They asked 

her to resign to them the honour of entertaining Sakyamuni ; 
' but she refused, and the great man himself, when solicited by 

the rulers in person, also refused to break his engagement with 

the lady.' ^ 

* Bain's Mental and Moral Science. •* Mrs. Spier's Life in Ancient 

2 Waitz' Anthropology, p. 317, India, p. 281. 

^ Astley, vol. ii. p. 279. 



NOTES 539 

Until recently the courtesans were the only educated women 
in India. ^ Even now many of the great Hindoo temples have 
bands of women attached to them, and it seems at first sisrht a 
strange anomaly that, while a woman born of, or adopted into, 
one of these families is not held to pursue a shameless vocation, 
other women who have fallen from good repute are esteemed 
disgraceful.^ There is, in reality, however, nothing anomalous 
in this. The former continue an old custom of the country, under 
solemn religious . sanction ; the latter, on the contrary, have 
given way to lawless inclinations, have outraged public feelings, 
and brought disgrace on their families. In ancient Egypt, 
again, it would appear that illegitimate children were, under 
certain circumstances, preferred over those born in wedlock.^ 

When the special wife was a stranger and a slave, while the 
communal wife was' a relative and a free-woman, such feelings 
would naturally arise, and would, in some cases, long survive the 
social condition to which they owed their origin. 

Page 453. 

The Multijylicity of Rules in Australia. 

. It seems at first sight remarkable that a race so low as the 
Australians should have such stringent laws and apparently 
complex rules. In fact, however, they are merely customs to 
which antiquity has gradually given the force of law ; and it is 
obvious that when a race has long remained stationar}' we may 
naturally expect to find many customs thus crystallised, as it 
were, by age. 

' Dubois' People of India, pp. 217, Watson and J. W. Kaye, vol. iii. p. 165. 
402. 3 Bachofen, Das Mntterrecht, 

- The People of India, by J. F. p. 125. 



INDEX 



ABE 

ABEOKUTA, tattoos of the people 
of, 58 
Abipones, ideas regarding spirits, 225 

— their disbelief in natural death, 229 

— sorcerers among them, 255, 257 

— their Shamanism, 255 

— their worship of the Pleiades, 321 

— no idea among them of creation, 
384 

— their method of numeration, 445 
Abstract terms, absence of, among 

savages, 437 
Abyssinia, marriage customs in, 85 
Abyssinians, absence of the marriage 

ceremony among the, 83 
— ^ practice of adoption among them, 97 

— their stone-worship, 313 
Adoption, prevalence among the lower 

races of men, 95 

— among the Eomans, 96 

— among the Greeks, 97 

— and milk-tie, 97 

^Ethiopia, absence of the marriage 

ceremony in, 87 
- — marriage customs in, 536 
Africa, customs as to fathers-in-law 

and mothers-in-law, 13 

— writing used as medicine in, 23 

— drawings not understood in, 43 

— personal ornamentation of various 
tribes, 56, 59 

— their tattoos and tribal marks, 59, 65 

— marriage and relationship in, 70 

— practice of adoption in, 96 

— marriage customs of the Futans, 
122 

of the North Africans, 123 

— restrictions on marriage in Eastern 
and Western, 137 

— inheritance through females in, 152 

— relationship in, 152 

• — how dreams are regarded by some 
tribes, 219 

— notions of a man's shadow, 223 



AME 

Africa — contimLed. 

—■ and of the Deity, 226 

— behaviour of the people during 
eclipses, 237 

— totemism in, 264, 265 

— serpent-worship in, 271 

— animal- worship in, 279 

— tree-worship in, 293 

— water- worship in, 302 

— stone-worship in, 313 

— ceremony of eating the fetich in, 
338, 370 

— Shamanism in, 346-348 

— worship of men in, 360, 363 

— human sacrifices in, 369 

— no notion of creation among the 
people of, 387 

— absence of moral feeling in, 402,404 

— poverty of the language of, 436 

— absence of abstract ideas in, 437 

— methods of numeration in, 446 

— salutations of the people in, 457 
Age, respect paid to, 413 

Ages, the Four, the true theory of, 518 
Agoye, an idol of Whiddah, 272 
Ahitas of the Philippines, marriage 

customs of the, 121, 126 
Ahoosh, Lake, held sacred by the 

Baskhirs, 301 
Ahts, inactivity of their intellect, 9 

— slavery of female captives among 
the, 147 

— their sorcerers, 255 

— their worship of the sun and moon, 
320 

Ainos, fire-worship among the, 318 
Aleutian Islanders, tattooing of the, 60 
Algonkins, their rules and ceremonies, 

454 
Alligator-worship, 279 
Amazon Valley, marriage by capture 

among the tribes of the, 120 
America, South, custom of La Couvade 

in, 15, 16 



542 



INDEX 



AME 

American Indians, customs among the, 
in reference to mothers-in-law, 11 

— custom of La Couvade among the, 
16 

— their ideas with reference to por- 
traits, 20 

— their use of writing as medicine, 22 

— their mode of curing diseases, 28 

— their picture-writings, 45-54 

— their grave-posts, 48 

— their personal ornamentation, 57 

— marriage and relationship among 
the, 69 

— absence of marriage ceremony, 82 

— system of relationship among some 
tribes of, 95 

— custom among the Hudson's Bay 
Indians of wrestling for a wife, 101 

■ — marriage customs of the South 
Americans, 120 

— restrictions on marriage among 
some of them, 140-142 

■ — importance of their totems, or crests, 
141 

— relationship through females among 
them, 155 

■ — systems of relationship among 
them, 166, 178-182 

— absence of religion among some 
tribes, 216 

— how dreams are regarded by them, 
222 

— their notion of a man's shadow, 223 
of a Deity, 224 

— spirits, how regarded by some, 225 

— how they regard death, 229 

— their belief in a plurality of souls, 
241 

■ in divination, 244 

— their sorcery, 247 

— their fasting and supposed reve- 
lations, 256 

— their religious ideas, 266 

— their totemism, 266 

— their worship of the serpent, 274 

— prevalence of animal - worship 
among them, 275 

— their tree-worship, 292 

— their water-worship, 304 

— their stone-worship, 316 

— their fire-worship, 320 

■ — their belief in fetiches, 336 

— absence of idolatry among them, 
49 

— white men regarded as deities 
among them, 363 

— their sacrifices, 367 

— fearless of death, 384 

• — their ideas of the Creation, 385 

— their objection to prayer, 389, 390 



ATH 

American Indians — continued. 

— no distinction of right and wrong 
among, 405 

— their notion of a future state, 410 

— their languages, 421, 431 

— customs of the, 452 

— their property in land, 460 

— names taken by parents from their 
children, 473 

— their punishment of crime, 475 
Anarchy on death of chief, 466 
Ancestors, worship of, 322, 352-356, 

359 
Andaman Islanders, relationship be- 
tween the sexes, 86, 110 

— do not worship or pray to spirits, 
388 

Anglo-Saxons, their Wehrgeld, 480 
Animal-worship considered as a stage 
of religious progress, 263 

— explanations of the ancients, 263 

— among the ancient Egyptians, 279 

— custom of apologising to animals 
for killing them, 281 

Ant-hills worshipped, 324 

Apis regarded by the Egyptians as a 

god, 367 
Arabs, their ideas as to the influence 

of food, 19 

— tattooing of the, 61 

— singular marriage of the Hassani- 
yeh, 76 

— relations of husband and wife, 80 

— their ancient stone -worship, 311 

— their notions of a broken oath, 410 
Arawaks, absence of the marriage 

ceremony among the, 82 
Arithmetic, difficulties of savages in, 
439-442 

— use of the fingers in, 442-447 
Art, earliest traces of, 38 

— in the Stone Age, 38 

— almost absent in the Bronze Age, 
38 

— as an ethnological character, 40, 
42 

Aryan religions contrasted with 

Semitic, 340, 341 
Ashantee, king of, his harem, 150 
Ashantees, absence of the marriage 

ceremony among the, 83 

— their water-worship, 302 

Asia Minor, the ' mevat ' system of 

land tenure in, 461 
Assyrians, their human sacrifices, 372 
Atheism, defined, 209 

— of the lower and higher races com- 
pared, 213 

— the natural condition of the savage 
mind, 215 



INDEX 



543 



AUS 

Australians, Dampier's mistake with 
the, 8 

— their habit of non-contradiction, 8 

— their customs as to mothers-in- 
law, 14 

— their modes of curing diseases, 32 

— some of them unable to understand 
a drawing, 42 

— their personal ornaments, 54, 55 

— marriage among them, 72 

— condition of their women, 72 

— restrictions on marriage among 
them, 77, 107, 136 

— their marriage laws, 89,90,104,108 

— the origin of individual marriage 
among, 105 

— their practice of marriage by cap- 
ture, 105-108, 112 

— how dreams are regarded by them, 
221 

— their belief in an evil spirit, 228 

- — think they become white men after 
death, 239 

— their totemism, 265 

• — their religious ideas, 325 

— had no idea of Creation, 325 

— Mrs. Thomson's residence among 
them, 326 

— their ideas of the dead, 384 

— their absence of moral feeling, 402 

— no notion of future rewards and 
punishments, 406 

— poverty of their dialects, 437, 439 

— character of their laws, 451 

— their punctiliousness, 455 

— their property in land, 460 

— division of property into portions, 
467 

— their custom of taking the names 
of their children, 472 

— position of women among them, 72, 
531 



BABYLONIA, marriage customs in, 
535 
Bachapins, their religious ideas, 328 
Balearic Islands, marriage customs in 

the, 536 
Bali, practice of marriage by capture 

in, 113 
Bamboo, the, worshipped, 295 
Basutos, their idea of shadows, 223 
— system of primogeniture of the, 471 
Battas of Sumatra, relationship 

through females among the, 154 
Bear, worship of the, 275 
Beam, custom of La Couvade in, 14 _ 
Bechuanas, their ideas regarding evil 

spirits, 30, 224, 231 



CAL 

Beclmansis—contimiecl. 

— their notions of the causes of death, 
30, 228 

— their totemism, 265 

— their worship of the moon, 322 
Bedouins, absence of religion among 

the wilder, 215 

— their mode of divination, 243 
Beerbhoom, tree-worship in, 295 
Bells, use of, by the Buddhists, 232 

— and by the Japanese, 232 
Berbers, their custom of inheritance 

through females, 152 
Bintang Islanders, absence of moral 

sense among the, 408 
Bird -worship, 275 
Blood-revenge, 476, 478 
Bo tree, worship of the, in India and 

Ceylon, 294 
Borneo, condition of the wild men of 

the interior of, 9 

— customs as to mothers-in-law, 12 

— and of La Couvade, 17 
Bornouese, tribe marks of the, 59 
Borough English, 474 
Bouriats, their sacred lakes, 301 
Boy-marriage, 78, 129 
Brazilians, their custom of kiUing and 

eating captives, 132 

— their marriage regulations, 142 

— their notion of evil spirits, 225 

— sorcerers among them, 255 
Britons, post-obits among the, 381 
Brumer Island, tattooing among the 

women of, 61 
Buddhism and Christianity contrasted, 

391 
Buft'alo-bell, worship of a, 323 
Bunns of Africa, tribal marks of, 59 
Burial of things with dead, 288 
Burmese system of relationship, 182 
Bushmen, Lichtenstein's description 

of the, quoted, 10 

— their customs as to fathers-in-law 
and mothers-in-law, 14 

■ — unable to understand perspective, 
44 

— absence of the marriage ceremony 
among them, 83, 86 

— their notions of ghosts, 240 

— their inability to count beyond two, 
439, 446 

Butias, absence of marriage cere- 
monies among, 82 



CALIFOENIANS, absence of religion 
and government among the, 215 
— tlieir belief in the destruction of 
body and spirit, 240 



544 



INDEX 



CAL 

Californians — continued. 

— tlieir religious ideas, 327 ^ 

— absence of ideas respecting Crea- 
tion, 385 

Callaway on Kaffir religion, 227, 329, 

330, 386 
Cambodians, tlieir low ideas regarding 

spirits, 231 

— tlieir notion of eclipses, 236 
Canadian Indians, marriage ceremony 

among, 85 
Caribs, their ideas respecting the in- 
fluence of food, 19 

— their practice of marriage by cap- 
ture, 112 

— their behaviour during eclipses, 235 

— their belief in the plurality of souls, 
241 

— their fasting and supposed reve- 
lations, 257 

— their notion of the Deity, 389 
Caroline Islander, tattooing of a, 63 
Carthaginians, their human sacrifices, 

372 
Celts, their tree-worship, 293 
Census roll, an American Indian, 47 
Ceremonies, 455, 456 
Ceylon, two kinds of marriage in, 76 

— polyandry in, 145 

— tree-worship in, 294 
the sacred Bo tree, 294 

— religious ideas of the Veddahs, 327 
Chalikatos, disbelief of a future state, 

379 
Cheek studs, 57 
Cherokees, system of relationship 

among, 187 

— divination practised by the, 242 

— their practice of fasting, 256 

— their tire-worship, 318 

— their progress in civilisation, 496 
Chinese, their customs as to daughters- 
in-law, 12 

— their custom of La Couvade, 17 

— their notions as to the influence of 
food, 19 

— their mode of salutation, 36 

— their presents of coffins, 37 

— their deficiency in the art of per- 
spective, 44 

— their knots for transacting business, 
44 

— their compression of ladies' feet, 65 

— their marriage customs, 86 

— restrictions on marriage amongst 
them, 140 

— notions regarding eclipses, 236 

— their idea of the man in the moon, 
237 

— witchcraft of the magicians, 252 



DAC 

Chinese— continued. 

— their fetiches, 265 

— life attributed by them to inanimate 
objects, 290 

— their treatment of their gods, 336 

— their idolatry, 352 

— their language, 422 

— Chipewyans, their idea of Creation, 
385 

— sacrifice of prisoners abolished, 495 
Chippewas, system of relationship 

among, 190, 191 
Chiquito Indians, their behaviour 

during eclipses, 235 
Chittagong, marriage among the hill 

tribes of, 71, 80 
Christianity and Buddhism contrasted, 

391 
Chuckmas, marriage custom among, 

129 
Circassians, the milk-tie among the, 

97 

— marriage by force among them, 124 

— exogamy among them, 139 
Coemptio, 2, 74 

Coffins, presents of, 37 
Colours, words for, 438 
Comanches, their worship of the sun, 
moon, and earth, 320 

— absence of moral feeling among 
the, 403 

— abolition of wife sacrifices, 495 
Communal marriage, 86, 98, 103, 104- 

109 
Confarreatio, 74, 128 
Coroados, custom of La Couvade 

among the, 15 

— personal ornaments of a woman, 
55 

— their worship of the sun and moon, 
321 

— their method of numeration, 445 
Courtesans, respect paid in Greece to, 

537 

— their religious character in India, 
538 

Couvade, La, custom of, in Beam, 14 

— its wide distribution, 15 

— origin of the custom, 17 
Creation, no idea of, among the lower 

races, 384 
Crees, system of relationship among, 

190, 191 
Crocodile-worship, 280 



DACOTAHS, their notions as to the 
influence of food, 19 

— their water-god, Unktahe, 304 

— their stone-worship, 316 



INDEX 



545 



DAH 

Dahome, king of, his messengers to 

his deceased father, 384 
Dampier, his mistake with Austra- 
lians, 8 
Dance, a, among the Eedskins of Vir- 
ginia, 375 
Dances, religious, among savages, 257- 

260, 375, 527 
Darhoot, notion as to eclipses at, 237 
Date-tree, worship of the, 293 
Death, disbelief among savages in the 

existence of natural, 228 
Decan, tattooing of the w^omen of, 63 
Deification, savage tendency to, 261, 

267 
Dekkan, sacred stones in the, 309 
Dela wares, system of relationship 

among, 187 
Descent through mother, 151-157 

— through father, 158-161 
Disease, supposed to be caused by 

spirits, 25 

— how regarded by savages, 26 
- — various modes of curing, 26 

— causes of, according to the Kaffirs, 
330 

Divination among savage races, 241 

— modes of, described, 242-245 
Doingnaks, endogamy of the, 148 
Drawings, not understood, 42, 43 
Dreams-, religious ideas suggested by, 

218 

— influence of, according to the Kaffirs, 
330 

Dyaks of Borneo, custom of La Couvade 
among the, 17 

— their ideas respecting the influence 
of food, 18 



EAE ornaments, 57 
Earth, worship of the, 285, 286 
Echo taken for a fetich, 223 
Eclipses, behaviour of savages during, 

234-237 
Egyptians, their animal-worship, 263, 

279 
Endogamy, origin of, 147 
England, water-worship in, 299 

— worship of stones in, 311 
Erromango, worship of the moon in, 

322 
Esquimaux, their attempts to render 
barren women fertile, 20 

— their mode of curing diseases, 29 

— thpir mode of salutation, 37 

— their skill in drawing, 39, 40 

— their picture-writings, 45 

— their personal ornamentation, 57 

— their habit of licking presents, 97 



FIJ 

Esquimaux — contimied. 

— their capture of brides, 118 

— their system of relationship, 194 

— their Shamanism, 344 

— their language, 421 

— Capt. Parry's picture of a hut of 
the, 509 

European system of relationship, 196 
Exogamy, or marriage out of a tribe, 

133 
Expiation for marriage, 130, 535 
Eyebright, the, used for ocular com- 
plaints, 20 



FAMILIA, the, of the Eomans, 73, 
100 
Family, derivation of the word, 76 
Fasting practised by savages^ 256 
Father and mother, origin of the terms, 

426 
words for, in various lan- 
guages, 427-433 

— taking name of child, 472, 473 
Felatah ladies, toilet of, 57 
Fetichism defined, 210 

— considered as a state of religious 
progress, 333, 334, 335 

— believed in in Europe, and among 
other races, 332 

— belief of the negroes in, 333, 334 

— eating the fetich, 338, 370 
Fijians, their tattooing, 62 

— their hair-dressing, 66 

— their polyandry, 79 

— their marriage customs, 80 

— their marriage by capture, 120 

— their custom of Vasu, 156 

— svstem of relationship among, 171, 
172, 185 

— their religious ideas regarding 
dreams, 221 

— their mode of sorcery, 246, 250 

— their serpent-worship, 273, 274 

— and worship of other animals, 277 

— their worship of plants, 297 

— their stone-worship, 314 

— their Shamanism, 345 

— their offerings of food to the gods, 
366 

— their notions of a future state, 
378 

— their practice of putting old people 
to death, 382 

— names and character of their gods 
406 

— had no notion of future rewards 
and punishments, 407, 408 

— respect paid to rank among, 457 

— their ceremonies, 459 

N N 



646 



INDEX 



FIJ 

Fijians — continued. . 

— their laws of inheritance, 465 

— anarchy on death of ruling chief, 
466 

Fire-worship, 316-319 

Flatheads of Oregon, their fasts, and 

supposed revelations, 256 
Formosa, tattooing in, 62 
France, worship of stones in, 312 
Friendly Islanders, their explanations 

to Labillardiere, 7 

— their treachery, 394 
Friesland, marriage by force in, 124 
Futans, marriage customs of the, 122 
Future life, absence of belief in a, 

among savages, 238 



GALACTOPHAGI, communal mar- 
riage of the, 95 
Gambler Islands, tattooing in the, 62 
Gangamma, or rivers, worshipped -in 

India, 301 
Ganges, worship of the, 301 
Garos, marriage ceremonies of the, 

115, 126 
Germans, ancient, relationship among 

the, 153 
Ghiliaks, marriage ceremony among 

the, 128 
Ghosts, belief of savages in, 238-241 

— white men regarded as, 239 

— difference in the belief in ghosts 
and in the existence of a soul, 377 

Goguet on property, 460 

— on laws, 448 

Goose, the, worshipped, 279 
Grave-posts of American Indians, 48 
Greeks, their notions respecting their 
deities, 233 

— the earth regarded as a living entity 
and worshipped by, 285, 286 

— their water- worship, 300 

— their stone-worship, 311 

— origin of their myths, 341, 342 

— their ancestor-worship, 354 

— character of their gods, 406 

— their power of willing property, 
467 

— their officers for prosecuting crimi- 
nals, 475 

Greenlanders, their custom of La Cou- 
vade, 16 

— their notions respecting dreams, 
219 

— their behaviour during eclipses, 234 

— fasting and sorcery among them, 
256 

— seizure of property after a man's 
death, 466 



IDO 

Gruagach-stones in Skye, 312 

Guam, endogamy in, 149 

Guiana, custom of La Couvade in, 15 

— medical treatment of the savages 
of, 27 

— restrictions on marriage among the, 
142 

— native method of numeration, 444 
Guinea, tattooing in, 62 

■ — two kinds of marriage in, 76 

— status of the 'Bossum ' wife, 76 

— human sacrifices at, 366 

— notions of a future state in, 380 

— New, tattooing among the women 
of, 61 

Guyacurus of Paraguay, matrimony 
among the, 72 



HAIR-DEESSING of the Fijians, 
66 

— of other races, 66, 67, 68 
Haitians, heaven upon earth among, 

380 
Hassaniyeh Arabs, 76 
Hawaiian system of relationship, 90- 

94, 175-178 _ 
Head, compression of the, among some 

American tribes, 65 
Heaven, ideas of, among the lowe 

races, 379-381 
Helen, character of, 124, 532 
Heliogabalus, form of the god, 311 
Hermes, or Termes, worship of stones 

under the name of, 307, 311 
Hervey Islands, mode of salutation in, 

36 
Hindoo, system of nomenclature and 

relationship in, 192 

— caste rules and religious observances 
in, 450 

Honeymoon, 127 

Hottentots, marriage among the, 69 

— their evil spirits, 224 

— their notion of prayer, 388 

— but no idea of future rewards and 
punishments, 409 

Hudson's Bay Indians, relationships 

through females among the, 155 
Human sacrifices, 367, 373, 374 

— • — abolition of, 495 

Hunting, custom of the Koussa Kaffirs 
respecting, 282 

— laws of savages, 455 



IDOLATEY, or anthropomorphism, 
210 
— considered as a stage of religious 
development, 348 



INDEX 



.47 



IDO 

Idolatry — continued. 

— unknown to the lower races, 349- 
352 

— origin of, 352 

— writer of the Wisdom of Solomon 
on idols, 357 

— idols not regarded as mere em- 
blems, 358 

Ikeougoun, lake of, held sacred, 301 
Immortality of the soul, 237, 377 
India, La Couvade in, 17 

— tattooing in, 61 

— absence of the marriage ceremony 
among some tribes in, 81 

— marriage customs among others, 
114, 115 

— restrictions on marriage in some 
races, 138 

— polyandry in, 145 

-- system of Levirate in, 146 

— endogamy, 147 

— atheism of the Jains, 217 

— sorcery of the magicians of, 247 

— religious dances in, 258 

— animal-worship in, 278, 279 

— inanimate objects worshipped in, 
290 

— tree-worship in, 286, 294, 295 

— water-worship in, 301 

— stone-worship in, 308 

— worship of the sun in, 321 

— various other worships in, 323 

— fetichism in, 335 

— idolatry in, 352 

— w^orship of ancestors in, 354 

— human sacrifices in, 368, 371 

— notions of future rewards and 
punishments among various races 
of, 409 

— salutations and ceremonies in, 458 

— rights of children in, 469 

— primogeniture in, 474 

— respect paid to courtesans at Vesali, 
538 

Infanticide, causes of, among savages, 
135 

Inheritance, custom of, through fe- 
males, 151, 471 

Ireland, marriage custom in, 125 

— water-w^orship in, 300 

— stone-worship in, 312 

Iroquois, relationship through females 
among, 155 

— how they regard eclipses, 235 
Italy, marriage custom in, 536 



TAINS of India, atheism of the, 217 
?J Jakuts, restrictions on marriage 
among the, ] 39 



KEN 

Jakuts— cu7itimied. 

— their worship of animals, 278 

— their worship of trees, 295 
Japan, marriage custom in, 78 

— system of relationship in, 183 
Java, courtesans not despised in, 538 
Jews, relationship among the, 157 

— sacrifices among the, 365, 373 



KACHAEIS, absence of moral feehng 
among the, 403 
Kaffirs, custom as to father-in-law 
and mother-in-law among, 13 

— ideas on the influence of food, 19 

— disease attributed by the Koussas 
to three causes, 31 

— unable to understand drawings, 43 

— ornamentation of the skin of the 
Baahapins, 59 

— marriage among the, 69 

— marriage ceremony, 122 

— system of relationship, 189 

— absence of religion among the 
Koussas, 215 

— a Zulu's notions of religion, 218 

— scarcely any idea of deity among, 
227 

— notion of the causes of death, 228 

— and of evil spirits, 231 

— curious hunting custom of the 
Koussas, 282 

— rehgious ideas, 328, 329 

— their worship of ancestors, 353 

— priests among the, 377 

— their notions of Creation, 385 

— absence of moral feeling among 
the, 403 

— their method of numeration, 446 
Kalangs of Java, restrictions on mar- 
riage among the, 149 

Kalmucks, their ideas of disease, 25 

— marriage ceremonies of the, 116 

— restrictions on marriage among the, 
139 

— their character, 395 
Kamchadales, marriage by capture 

among the, 117 

Kamilaroi natives, restriction of mar- 
riage among the, 88, 89, 108 

Kamskatka, custom of La Couvade in, 
16 

— low ideas of spirits in, 229 
Karens, their system of relationship, 

193 

— their religious ideas, 347 
Kenaiyers, restrictions on marriage 

among the, 140 

— relationship through females among 
the, 155 



548 



INDEX 



KHO 



MAN 



Khonds, of Orissa, marriage customs 
among the, 115 

— restrictions on marriage among the, 
138 

— their totemism, 267 

— their water-worship, 302 

— and stone-worship, 308 

— their worship of the sun and moon, 
321 

— human sacrifices among them, 368 

— laws as regards hunting among, 
455 

Kingsmill system of relationship, 178 
Kissing not universally practised, 35 
Knots used as records, 44 
Kols of Central India, marriage cere- 
monies of the, 115 

— their religious dances, 258 
Kookies of Chittagong have no notion 

of future rewards and punishments, 
409 



LABKETS of the Americans and 
Africans, 57 
Lake-worship, 301 
Lama, Great, of Thibet, worship of the, 

364 
Land, property in, among savages, 460 

— tenure, various forms of, 461 

— communal property, 462, 463 

— sale of, 465 

Language, figurative, of savages, 291 

— probable influence of the character 
of, over that of religion, 340 

— the language of the lowest races, 
416 

— gesture language, 417-419 

— origin of languages, 419 

— root-w^ords, 422 

— onomatopoeia, 423-425 

— abstract names, 425 

— nicknames and slang terms, 426 

— origin of the terms ' father ' and 
' mother,' 426 

- — choice of root-words, 432 

— poverty of savage languages, 435, 
445 

— table of seventeen languages, 524 
Laplanders, their ideas with reference 

to portraits, 21 
-- fasting of wizards among the, 257 
Lapps, tree-worship among the, 293 
Law, connection of, with right, 410 
Laws of the lower races, 448 

— character of their laws, 449 

— their multiplicity, 450 

— their rules and ceremonies, 451 

— hunting laws, 455 

— salutations, 456 



Laws of the lower races — continued. 

— property in land, 460 

— land tenures, 461 

— wills, 467 

— punishment of crime, 474 
Letters, bark, of the American Indians, 

51, 52 
Levirate system of relationship, 146 
Licking presents, habit of, 97 
Life, how regarded by savages, 24, 25 

— of inanimate objects, 33, 287 
Limboos, customs of relationship 

among the, 154 

Livingstone on salutations and cere- 
monies in Africa, 458 

Locke questions the existence of innate 
principles, 400 

Lycians, relationship through females 
among the, 153 



M'LENNAN on marriage, 102, 110 
Madagascar, ideas of evil spirits 
in, 31 

— practice of adoption in, 96 

— inheritance through females in, 
152 

— religious regard paid to dreams in, 
220 

— animals worshipped in, 280 

— belief of fetichism in, 338 

— idolatry in, 351 

— worship of men in, 360 

— sacrifices in, 366 

— human sacrifices in, 371 

— absence of temples in, 874 

— no priests in, 376 

Maine, Sir H., remarks on bis 'Ancient 
Law,' 6 

— on wills, 467 

Maize, worship of, by the Peruvians, 
298 

Makololo, similarity of witchcraft 
among the, 252 

Malays, their ideas respecting the in- 
fluence of food, 18 

— their marriage ceremonies, 116 

— Mr. Wallace's picture of a savage 
community, 400 

— their method of numeration, '445 
Mama Cocha, principal deity of the 

Peruvians, 305 
Mammoth, ancient drawing of a, 38 
Mandans, their water-worship, 305 
Mandingoes, marriage among the, 71 

— absence of marriage ceremony 
among the, 83 

— marriage by force among the, 122 

— animal-worship among the, 282 

— their notion of prayer, 388 



INDEX 



549 



MAN 

Mantchu Tartars, restrictions on mar- 
riages among the, 149 
Maoris, their worship of animals, 277 
Marriage among savages, 69 

— different kinds of, 70 86 

— marriage by purchase (coemptio), 
2, 74 

— provisional marriages in Ceylon, 
76 

■ — ceremonies, separation after, 79-81 

— absence of marriage ceremony, 81 

— and of any word for marriage, 
83, 87 

— distinction between ' lax ' and 
' brittle ' marriages, 84 

— gradual development of the custom 
of marriage, 86 

— communal marriage, 87, 98, 103, 
104-109 

— Bachofen's views, 98 

— marriage with female supremacy, 
98 

— wrestling for wives, 101 

— M'Lennan's views, 102 

— curious Australian marriage laws, 
90, 104-108 

— the origin of individual marriage 
in Australia, 105 

— the prevalence of marriage by cap- 
ture, 110 

— by capture becomes subsequently 
a mere form, 114 

— custom of lifting the bride over the 
doorstep, 127 

— origin of marriage by capture, 130 

— marriage by confarreatio, 74, 128 

— expiation for marriage in various 
countries, 130, 535 

— temporary wives, 131 

— exogamy and its origin, 133 

— restrictions against marrying wo- 
men of the same stock, 136 

— endogamy, 147 

— marriage with half-sisters, 157 
Mercury, his offices, 306 
Mexicans, animal- worship among the, 

276 

— their tree-worship, 298 

— their water-worship, 305 

— their fire-worship, 318 

— their human sacrifices, 368, 373 
Micmac system of relationship, 181 
Micronesians,worship of stones among, 

315 

— their worship of ancestors, 355 

— have no temples, 374 

— their notions of a future state, 380 
Milk-tie, the, in Circassia, 97 

— strength of the relationship among 
the Scotch Highlanders, 150 



NIC 

Mirdites, marriage by capture among 

the, 126 
Mohegans, nomenclature in use among 

the, 190 
Mongols, marriage customs of the, 118 

— their mode of divination, 243 

— their laws, 454 

Moon, worship of the, 319-322 
Moral feeling, origin of, 411 
absence of, 394 

— connection of religion and morality, 
414 

Morgan, Mr., on development of rela- 
tionship, 162 

Mothers-in-law, customs in reference 
to, 11-14 

Mountain-worship, 306, 315 

Mundaris, marriage ceremony among, 
84 

Munsee system of relationship, 186 

Mystery men, or medicine men, 377 

Myths, 341 



V[AIRS of India, relationship among 
11 the, 87 

— their ' group ' marriages, 87 

— relationship through females among 
the, 154 

Names, superstition's about calling 
father after son, 472 

— women no names, 436 
Naples, fetichism in, 333 
Natchez, their stone-worship, 316 

— their fire-worship, 318 

— their worship of the sun, 319 
Nature-worship defined, 210 
Naudowessies, custom of polyandry 

among the, 537 
Negroes, their notion of evil spirits, 
226 

— their belief in ghosts, 238 

— their absence of belief in a future 
life, 238 

— become white men after death, 239 

— their sorcery, 246 

— their belief in fetichism, 271 

— their tree-worship, 294 

— their worship of the sea, 302 

— and of white men, masts, and 
pumps, 303 

— and worship of an iron bar, 323 

— Shamanism among them, 346 

— have no notion of Creation, 387 

— nor of prayer to the Deity, 388 

— absence of moral feeling among the, 
403 

— their salutations, 457 

New Zealand, worship of men in, 361 
Nicaragua, rain- worship i») 305 



550 



INDEX 



NIC 

Nicknames, origin of, 426 

Nicobar Islands, ideas of the natives 

of, of spirits, 229 
Nightmare, the, 222 
Norway, stone-worship in, 313 
Nose-ring, worship of a, 324 
Numerals, savage names of, 442-446 
Nyambanas, ornamentation of the skin 

of the, 59 



OJIBWAS, their fire-worship, 318 
Omahaws, their customs respect- 
ing sons-in-law, 11 
Omens, 220 
Oneidas, their system of relationship, 

186 
Ornaments, personal, of savages, 54 
Ostiaks, their custom as to daughters- 
in-law, 12 

— their ornamentations of the skin, 
60 

— exogamy among them, 139 

— their religious dances, 258 

— their tree-worship, 295 

— and stone-worship, 308 

■ — their statues in memory of the 

dead, 355 
OtaAva system of relationship, 189 
Ox, the, held sacred in India and 

Ceylon, 279 



PACIFIC Islands, absence of mar- 
riage and of family life in, 87 

— human sacrifices in the, 371 
Paraguay, river-worship in, 306 
Parents, custom of naming them after 

children, 472 
Patagonians, their tree-worship, 298 
Persia, tree-worship in, 292, 296 
Peruvians, their mode of recording 

events, 44 

— their religious ideas regarding 
dreams, 221 

— their notions of eclipses, 236 

— their animal-worship, 276 

— their sea- worship, 305 

— their fire-worshi]o, 319 

— their worship of the sun, 320 

— worship of men among, 360 

— their notion of religion and morals, 
410 

Petition, an American Indian, 53 
Philippine Islands, worship of trees in 

the, 297 
Phoenicians, their stone worship, 311 
Picture-writing, 45-54 
Pleiades, worship of the, 321 



EEL 

Polyandry, reasons for, 79 

— causes of, 146 

— list of tribes regarded as polyan- 
drous, 144 

— considered as an exceptional phe- 
nomenon, 143, 144 

— widely distributed over India, 
Thibet, and Ceylon, 145 

Polygamy, causes of, 143 
Polynesia, relationship through fe- 
males in, 156 
Polynesians, their drawings, 39 

— polyandry among them, 145 

— their idea of the cause of ecliiDses, 
236 

— their powers of witchcraft, 254 

— animal-worship among them, 276 

— their idols, 352 

— their worship of men, 352 

— their metho'd of numeration, 445 

— their property in land, 461 

— their laws, 480 
Pond-worship, 303 
Prayer, 388 

Priests, absence of, among the lower 

races, 375 
Prohibitions among savages, 450 
Property, communal, 462, 463 
Prussians, their ancient fires in honour 

of the god Potrimpos, 318 
Punjab, marriage ceremony in the, 

115, 116 



QUEEN Charlotte Island, marriage 
unknown in, 88 
Queensland, absence of religion in, 213 
Quippu, the, of the Peruvians, 44 



RAIN, worship of, 305 
Bainbow, worship of the, 323 
Rattle, the, regarded as a deity, 324 
Eeddies of Southern India, marriage 

customs of the, 78 
Eedknives, system of relationship, 186 
Eedskin, relationship between husband 
and wife, 165 

— relationship, summary of, 191, 192 

— system of relationship, 169-172 
Eeduplication of words, 523 
Eeindeer, ancient drawing of a, 38, 39 
Eejangs of Sumatra, their custom of 

tiling and disfiguring the teeth, 57 
Eelationship among savages, 69 

— independent of marriage, 86-90 

— adoption, 95 

— the milk-tie, 97 

— through females, 151 

— through males, 158 



INDEX 



551 



EEL 



SAC 



Eelationship among savages— cou^. 

— change in the relationship from the 
female to the male line, 157-159 

— present system, 160 

— in general, 162 

— development of, 163 

— different systems of, 164-172 

— classification of different systems, 
165 

— Wyandot system, 167 

— custom of addressing persons by 
their, 167, 168 

— similarities of system among the 
lower races, 169, 172 

— nomenclatm-e of, 166-168, 172, 173 

— effect of female kinship on systems 
of, 173 

— Two- Mountain Iroquois system of, 
178 

• — importance of the mother's brother 
in the family system, 180 

— Micmac system of, 181 

— remarkable terms in use, 186 

— explanation of the terms, 188 

— Kaffir system of, 189 

— remarkable systems of, 194 

— indications of progress, 195, 198- 
201, 204 

— incompleteness of system of, 197 

— existing system incompatible with 
the theory of degradation, 197 

— no evidence of degradation, 202 

— summary on the subject of, 202 
Religion of savages, 205 

— their mental inactivity, 205 

— character of their religion, 208 

— classification of lower religions, 209 

— sequence of religions according to 
Sanchoniatho, 210 

— totemism, 210, 263, 338 

— religious condition of the lowest 
races, 212 

— tribes among whom religion is ab- 
sent, 213 

— rudimentary religion, 217 

— dreams, 218 

— a man's shadow, 222 

■ — spirits at first regarded as evil, 224 

— and causing disease, 225-227 

■ — low ideas of spirits entertained by 
savages, 231 

— belief in ghosts, 238 

— absence of belief in a future state, 
238 

— plurality of souls, 241 

• — divination and sorcery, 241, 249 

— witchcraft, 259 

— religious dances, 257, 375, 527 

— gradual development of religious 
ideas, 261 



Religion of s&vages—contimied. 

— worship of ancestors and of men, 
262, 322, 352, 359 

— animal-worship, 263 

— deification of inanimate objects, 283 

— worship of the sun, moon and 
stars, 285 

— tree-worship, 286 

— sundry other worships, 290 

— water-worship, 299 

— worship of stones and mountains, 
306 

— fire-worship, 316 

— fetichism, 332 

— developmental and adaptational 
changes, 340 

— Shamanism, 343 

— idolatry, 348 

— worship of principles, 364 • 

— sacrifices, 365, 366 

— temples, 374 

— the soul, 377, 381 

— the future state, 381 

— Creation, 384 

— prayer, 388 

- — progress of, 391 

— connection of religion and morality, 
414 

— progress of religious ideas among 
savages, 514, 515 

Right, connection of, with law, 410 

Rishis, or penitents, of India, how re- 
garded, 230 

River- worship, 299 

Rock sculptures, 54 

of Western Europe, 54 

Romans, their forms of marriage, 2, 
74, 80, 128 

— the status of married women, 74 

— marriage laws, 77 

— svstem of relationship among, 100, 
164, 196 

— their notions respecting their deities, 
233 

— sorcery among them, 249 

— origin of their myths, 342 

— their ancestor-worship, 354 

— their human sacrifices, 372 

— importance of formalities and ex- 
pressions among the, 459 

— their wills, 468 

— their laws of property, 478 
Russia, human sacrifices in, 373 



SAB^ISM, 284 
Sacrifices, human, 367-374 

— confusion of the victim with the 
Deity, 367 

— in ancient times, 372 



552 



INDEX 



SAL 

Salutation, forms of, among savages, 

35, 457 
Samoans, totemism among, 267 

— religious ideas regarding death, 330 

— their idea of Creation, 386 

- — gradation of rank among, 457 
Samojedes, marriage among the, 71, 
80 

— absence of affection in marriage 
among the, 71 

— marriage by capture among the, 117 

— exogamy among the, 139 
Sanchoniatho, sequence of religions 

according to, 210 
Sandwich Islanders, tattooing of, 63 

— relationship among the, 90 

— endogamy among them, 149 

— their animal-worship, 277 
Satan not among savages, 391 
Savages, their reasons for what they 

do and believe, 7 

— difficulties of communicating with 
them, and consequent mistakes, 7 

— inactivity of their intellect, 9, 205 

— condition of the lowest races of 
men, 9-10 

— resemblance of different races in 
similar stages of development to one 
another, 11 

— wide distribution of the custom of 
La Couvade, 15-17 

— ideas on the influence of food, 18 

— their notions with reference to por- 
traits, 20 

— and as to the value of writing, 22, 
23 

— their ideas of disease, 24 

— how life is regarded by them, 33 

— curious ideas of inanimate objects, 
33, 34 

— their forms of salutation, 35 

— art among them, 38 

— their personal ornaments, 54 

— marriage and relationship among 
them, 69, 74 

— the father's family not recognised 
as relations, 73 

— their religion, 205 

— their figurative language, 291 

— their character and morals, 394 

— difticulty of ascertaining the cha- 
racter of, 397 

— their progress in morals, 399 

— their family affection and moral 
feeling, 401 

— have no notion of a future state, 
407 

— origin of moral feeling among, 412 

— language of the lowest races of, 416 

— their laws, 448 



SOU 

Savages — contained. 

— general conclusions respecting, 486 

— papers on the primitive condition 
of, 487, 502 

— character of the religious belief of, 
494 

— true nature of barbarism, 504 
Scandinavia, human sacrifices in, 373 
Science, services of, to the cause of 

religion and humanity, 386 
Scotland, water-worship in, 300 

— stone-worship in Skye, 312 
Scythians, their worship of a scimetar, 

323 
Sea, worship of the, 302-306 
Semitic religions contrasted with 

Aryan, 340 
Serpent, worship of the, 268 

— races in which the serpent was and 
is worshipped, 270 

Shadow, how regarded by savages, 222 
Shamanism defined, 210 

— origin of the word Shaman, 343 

— account of, 344 

Shamans of Siberia, their supernatural 

powers, 254 
Shoshones, custom of La Couvade 

among the, 16 
Siberia, ideas on the influence of food 

in, 19 

— stone-worship in, 308 

— worship of ancestors in, 355 

— notions of the people of, as to 
Creation, 385 

Sioux, system of relationship among 

the, 95 
Skin, ornamentation of the, 58 
Skye, worship of stones in, 312 
Slang terms, origin of, 426 
Sleep, soul leaving body in, 219 
Smoking in religious ceremonies, 260 
Snakes, departed relatives in the form 

of, 273 
Sneezing, custom at, 499 
Sonthals, marriage customs of the, 

537 

— their religious observances during 
intoxication, 260 

— their mode of praying for rain, 310 
Soors, absence of moral sense among 

the, 405 
Sorcery among savages, 245 

— various modes of, 245-250 

— sorcerers not necessarily impostors, 
254 

Soul, difference between the belief in 
ghosts and in the existence of a, 377 

— souls of inanimate objects, 378 

— belief that each man has several 
souls, 381 



INDEX 



553 



sou 

South Sea Islanders, system of rela- 
tionship among, 178 

— their religion, 208 

Spartans, their marriages by capture, 

124 
Spiders worshipped, 277 
Spirits, always regarded by savages as 

evil, 224 

— the authors of disease, 226 

— of inanimate objects, 287 
Stars, worship of the, 321 
Statues worshipped as deities, 355 
Stiens, their belief in an evil genius, 30 

— their behaviour during eclipses, 236 

— their animal- worship, 283 

— absence of temples among the, 374 
Stones, worship of, 307 
Sumatrans, three kinds of marriage 

among the, 75 

— their behaviour during an eclipse, 
236 

— sorcery among the, '249 

— their animal-worship, 283 

— their tree-worship, 296 

— their water-worship, 302 

— their notion of a future state, 408 

— their names taken from their chil- 
dren, 473 

Sun-worship, 319-321, 351 
Swords, worship of, 323 



TACITUS, his observations on the 
ancient Germans, 6 
Tahiti, life attributed in, to inanimate 
objects, 289 

— animal-worship in, 289 

— stone-worship in, 313 

— worship of the king and queen of, 
361 

— human sacrifices in, 367 

— absence of ideas as to Creation in, 
386 

— character of the natives of, 395, 398 

— notions of the people of, as to future 
rewards and punishments, 407 

— character of the laws of, 452 
--- and of the ceremonies' of, 458 

— property in land in, 461 

— property left by will in, 468 

— custom of abdication of the king 
of, 471 

Tamils, system of relationship among 

the, 168-172, 185 
Tanna, ornaments used in, 55 

— tattooing among the women of, 62 

— hair-dressing in, 68 

— disease-making in, 251 

— absence of idolatry in, 351 

— worship of ancestors in, 355 



TUN 

Tapyrians, marriage custom of the, 

131 
Tartars, their notion of God, 232 

— inheritance in the youngest son 
among the, 473 

Tasmanians, their mode of sorcery, 251 
Tattooing among the Africans, 59 

— among other races, 58-65 
Teehurs of Oude, relationship of the 

sexes among the, 87 
Teeth filed, 57, 58 

— pierced and ornamented, 58 
Temples, unknown mostly to the lower 

races, 374 
Thibet, polyandry in, 145 
Thomson, Mrs., worshipped as a deity 

in Australia, 326 
Thracians, marriage customs, 536 
Tierra del Fuego, marriages in, 120 
Tinne Indians, restrictions on marriage 

among the, 140 
Tipperahsof Chittagong, their notions 

respecting the spirits of the dead, 

240 
Todas of the Neilgherry Hills, their 

system of relationships, 95 

— their worship of the buffalo, 279 

— prayer amongst, 389 
Tombstones of American Indians, 48 
Tonga Islands, tattooing in the, 62 

— practice of adoption in the, 96 

— nobility through females in, 156 

— immortality of their chiefs, 378 

— but not of the common people, 378 

— their notion of a future state, 380 

— character of the islanders, 395 

— their absence of moral feeling, 404 

— and of the idea of future rewards 
and punishments, 407 

— ceremonies of the people of the, 456 

— abolition of wife sacrifice in the, 
495 

Tongans, system of relationship, 171 
-- absence of idolatry among, 351 

— their idea of Creation, 386 
Totemism defined, 210 

— considered as a state of religious 
progress, 268, 338 

Totems, or crests, importance of, 141 
Tottiyars of India, system of relation- 
ship of the, 95 
Tree-worship, universality of, 292 

— case of, recorded by Mr. Fergusson, 
286 

Tribe marks of various African races, 

59-62 
Tunguses, marriage by capture among 

the, 117 

— their mode of divination, 243 

— their water-worship, 301 

O 



554 



INDEX 



TUR 

Turkomans, marriage customs among 

the, 79 
Tuski, their skill in drawing, 40 

— their ornamentation of the skin, 60 
Two -Mountain Iroquois, system of re- 
lationship among, 178 

— importance of the mother's 
brother among, 180, 197 

Tylor, Early History of Man, 14 
Tyre, worship of a statue of Hercules 
at, 358 



u 



NKTAHE, water-god of the Daco- 
tahs, 304 



TTEDDAHS of Ceylon, their re- 
\ ligious ideas, 327 

— poverty of their language, 436 

Vesali, religious character of the cour- 
tesans of, 538 

Vesta, 317 

Virginia, religious dance of the natives 
of, 258 

Votyaks, relation of husband and wife 
among, 80 



ZUNI 

Women, position of, among savages, 
70, 98, 99 

— communities in which women have 
exercised the supreme power, 99 

— origin of exogamy, 133 

— causes of polygamy, 143 

— endogamy, 147 

— inheritance through females, 151 

— position of women in Australia, 
72, 531 

Wrestling for a wife, custom of, 101 
Writing used as medicine, 23 

— surprise of savages at, as a mode of 
communication, 44 

— picture, 45-54 

— Indian bark letters, 49-52 

— application of art to purposes of 
personal decoration, 54 

Wyandot system of relationship, 167, 
183 



YEEKALAS of Southern India, 
X marriage customs of the, 148 
Yunan, West, divination as practised 
in, 244 



WALES, marriage customs in, 125 
Warali tribes, restrictions on 
marriage among the, 138 
Water-worship in Europe, 299 

— India, 301 

— Africa, 302 

— N. America, 304 

— S. America, 305 

Wehrgeld of the Anglo-Saxons, 480 
Wells, sacred, in Scotland, 300 
Whately, Dr., Archbishop of Dublin, 

his views as to the condition of 

savages, 487 

— answers to his arguments, 491 
Whiddah, or Whydah, an idol of, 272 

— water- worship at, 302 
Wills, modern, origin of, 468 
Witchcraft, similarity of, in various 

parts of the world, 250-252 

— among savages, 250 

— the belief in, shared by Europeans, 
254 

Wives, custom of supplying guests 
with, 132 



ZEALANDEES, New, custom of har- 
dening the heart to pity, 19 

— causes of their cannibalism, 19 

— their tattooing, 63 

— their courtship and marriage, 121 

— endogamy among, 149 

— evil spirits, how regarded by, 230 

— their belief in the destruction of 
body and spirit, 240 

— their mode of divination, 245 

— sorcery and witchcraft among, 250 

— their worship of animals, 277 

— red a sacred colour with, 309 

— their worship of the rainbow, 323 

— their belief in the destruction of 
both body and soul, 377 

— their three tenures of land, 462 
Zoolatry, 263, 275 

Zulus, divination as practised among 
the, 244 

— sorcery among the, 245 

— abolition of sacrifice of slaves 
among the, 495 

Zuni. sacred well of, 305 



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